Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils
by Instant Classic Superstar Pac
Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."
1. Ep1: Rekindling the Spirit of Charmed

_**Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils**_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Show and cast disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, and co., as are all characters and pieces of the storyline previously depicted on the show. Characters created by either myself or a friend of mine who for all intents and purposes we will call Blacksheep Noble will be depicted with an asterisk in "casting" credits in the first episode they appear. Preexisting characters whose names I devise will have their in-show identities placed within dashes for their first appearance in this story. Regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either were and/or would be portrayed by actual specific human beings, each with at least an iota of believable acting ability, each owned by self, and none having actually acted the events introduced by this story. And last but not least, I own none of the suggested episode music, either. *sigh*. There, hope that covers it.

Rated: T for Teen

Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."

NOTE: I'm gonna try to do some things with this fanfic to helping the end of where you could actually see this as the show. Which, btw, does not mean script formatting. What it does mean is that **1)** every character with an ounce of individual importance will have an actor's name cast to them, so to speak, whether originally done by the show or by me and/or my Blacksheep Noble friend on a would-be basis, so that even if you don't recognize the character (if they're from the show) or my description of them doesn't work (if I created them), you can use a public screen face to see what I see. (Not all will be super well known, though, so IMDB is vital here if you care for this.) And **2)** each chapter is either part A or part B of an episode, with the significant cast listed a scene or two into part A, as if we were talking opening credits and city scope music intro.

Music side note: Speaking of opening music. I'm not envisioning "How Soon Is Now" on main credits for this. Instead, I'm envisioning a custom remix of Alter Bridge's "Open Your Eyes" which I call the Charmed Edge Army Mix. A link will be in my profile to a minute-and-some-change version of that. Also, I'm not sticking to one genre for city scope themes, so not everybody's gonna like every song I point to. This black guy has expanded his musical horizons into even more forbidden black guy territory than before. You have been warned.

Now to enjoy the show.

* * *

**Episode 1 - "Rekindling the Spirit of Charmed"**

_Central Date: September 5, 2007_

* * *

_Part A_

" '_And, although we certainly had our struggles and heartaches over the years, we're a family of survivors, and we will always be. Which is why we've truly, been, Charmed,' " the elderly woman once again recited the story of her magical youth to the young child._

"_Again, grandmamma. Again," the girl requested, to which the old lady chuckled at her excitement._

"_Oh, dear. No, I can't," she declined, taking a breath. "I need to rest. But you can look at it for a little while if you'd like, hm?" After handing the girl the book, she planted a kiss to her forehead. "After all," she continued as she rose to her feet and looked down happily at her granddaughter, "it'll be yours someday."_

_The thought that came across her as she walked towards her husband, standing and waiting in the middle of the living room for her with a smile of his own on his face, was that it never ceased to amaze her how young Prudence always perked up at hearing the tales of her grandmother and great-aunts as the incomparable Charmed Ones. But alas, this old body couldn't go on forever, and so she needed her rest. As her husband put an arm around her shoulder, the two walked on together through the living room and up the staircase with the assortment of pictures hanging on the wall next to it. One of their firstborn son when he was a baby. Of both of their sons a few years later. Of their wedding day. Of her grandmother. Of her mother sitting down and reading with her big sister when she was a child. Of him playing with their two sons. Of their sons as adults, roughly near the age she'd become Charmed. Of her parents, still married. And finally, Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt walked by the picture of herself, and her younger sisters Phoebe and Paige, during those first five years they knew Paige._

_Back at the front door, more of the grandkids came rushing in from school, to which Prudence smiled and closed the door using her telekinetic powers…_ as a triquetra appeared on the crystal ball and the view of the manor faded to black. The two beings watching this vision were thoroughly pleased thoroughly enjoyed what they had just seen on the ball, as the smiles on their faces gave away. One was a fairly stout-figured man with round face, white hair, and goatee whose physical age could be no younger than 55. The other was a woman with African features such as nappy hair and dark skin. Both possessed dark brown eyes, which may have been coincidental, and sky blue robe garments, which most certainly were not a coincidence, but a sign of who they are - Angels of Destiny. And they'd just finished watching up on the prospective future of the Charmed Ones, now that the Ultimate Power had been vanquished.

"Their future is certainly a blissful one, don't you agree?" the male angel asked, as the female turned to him.

"Indeed, Malachi. I predict things will be pleasing," the female angel replied, her smile becoming a full-on grin at the notion.

"Glad to see my fellows in Destiny are still as presumptuous as ever," another voice suddenly spoke, interrupting their moment of happiness. The Angels turned and saw that the man before them was a man with short light brown hair, a noticeable five o'clock shadow, and orange-lens spectacles over his eyes.

"Well, if it isn't Sepoth. How, or should I say why, dare you come here," the female angel scornfully remarked.

"Trying to inform you, Derdekea, that the future the two of you and the rest of Destiny see through your crystal balls is nothing more than a fantasy," the man in black replied, leaving questioning gazes on the faces of the two angels.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the white-haired angel apparently identified as Malachi demanded.

"One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources," the dark angel finally replied.

* * *

Principal Cast (Main Credits): Alter Bridge - "Open Your Eyes (Charmed Edge Army Mix)"

::Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell-Wyatt

::Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell

::Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews

::Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt

::Adam "Edge" Copeland as Derrick Serkan Brady*

* * *

City Scope Theme: Daughtry - "There and Back Again"

::Ivan Sergei as Henry Mitchell

::Victor Webster as Coop

::Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins

::Randy Orton as Keith Wilson Shard*

::Jason and Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt Matthew Halliwell

::Sammy Jack as Christopher (Chris) Perry Halliwell

:Julia Di Angelo as Prudence Halliwell II

:Ellen Geer as Elderly Piper

:Gordon Wells as Elderly Leo

:Dakin Matthews as Malachi -Angel of Destiny-

:Denise Dowse as Derdekea -Angel of Destiny-

:Jared Harris as Sepoth*

:Melissa George as Freyja

:Sal Lopez as Zhariggo Zhaikos*

:Susane Lee as Dalia*

:David de Lautour as Petrie*

* * *

Inside a certain Victorian manor at 1329 Prescott Street in San Francisco, California, Piper Halliwell-Wyatt was in the kitchen gathering bread and other food items, readying herself for a picnic that she and the family had set up for later today at Golden Gate Park. This was definitively a very important day to her for a number of reasons. One was for this day to be a stamp of emphasis. The other was for the family time with her husband, children, sisters, and brothers-in-law. And the third of the reasons dealt with someone who for a while had been part of the family but has felt a bit like an outcast since the day things started becoming more peaceful, because of her unfavorable hand in the events that led to that whole package. Essentially, this was the day everything was to be placed back together where it belonged. As she gathered up the breadbaskets and accompanying food items, Piper began to hum Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon". The song had been stuck in her head since a couple of days ago after she'd found old tapes lying around in the attic and decided to listen to some, it being among them. She soon found herself stirred out of her routine, though, by the sound of the home telephone ringing.

"Oh, crap," she muttered as she quickly strode over to the phone and answered, holding it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Piper! Hey, nice to hear ya!" the cheerful voice of her baby sister Paige echoed through the phone. "So, how's everything coming? You ready for the picnic today?"

"Paige, I'm the one that called for this picnic. Why wouldn't I be ready?" Piper asked. "Besides, we're going at about 4:30, not right now."

"I know, I know," Paige noted in sing-song, "it's just, well, I'm kinda anxious to see how this is gonna go, you know? I mean, this is the first time that all three of us, our husbands, and even the kids and Billie, are all gonna be together in awhile, you know? Sure, we all meet up a lot, but we usually split into parts or there's someone missing." She had a great point by that, which Piper really had no choice to agree with. While over the past seventeen months since taking care of the Ultimate Power, the family did manage to stick together through the occasional stop at P³ or "sister's night out", somebody did always tend to stay behind to take care of Wyatt and Chris nowadays, particularly because they're not at the age to go to P³. Usually the ball fell on Piper or her perfect husband Leo, the proud parents themselves, and maybe sometimes a little help from Paige or Henry if they weren't too busy, but over this summer Billie's been taking up the responsibility herself. Billie… yes, the perky blonde chick who comes across halfway like a comedy character when she tries to be the Captainess of Confidence…

"Anyway, it is safe for me to orb there now?" Paige asked, shaking Piper out of her thoughts. "I'm kinda bored here with no charges and nothing to do, and I don't really feel like stopping by the police office for the third time today."

"Yeah, sure, you can come…" Piper started, trailing off as she heard a constant sound coming from the sun room. "Hold on a second. I'll be right back." She stated, before quickly walking out of the kitchen and through the hall. "Wyatt! Chris!" She called to the two boys as she headed into the sun room… where she saw the both of them constantly orbing in and out of place. Seeing the boys amuse themselves by essentially becoming flashing lights, she could only muster little resistance against laughing herself, to which they both finally stopped and noticed her.

"Okay, boys. What are you doing?" she asked once she was finally able to stifle the laughter.

"Mommy, we're playing orbing tag!" Wyatt cheerfully announced in his cute little voice.

"Orbing tag?" she asked, confused and maybe a little curious about this new game her sons seemed to have come up with.

"Yeah. It's like tag, except we play by orbing!" Wyatt explained, still chipper.

"Well, then, who's 'it'?" Piper asked again, this time crouching down to meet her son's gaze.

"Chris is it!" Wyatt proudly proclaimed. Piper looked at Chris frowning in the corner of the room.

"That's because you talked first. Not fair!" Chris whined, though it was just then that the sound of someone else orbing into the manor distracted Piper. She got up and turned around, preparing to greet who she was sure it was.

"Guys, I think your aunty Paige is here," Piper announced. "Come on, follow me." The two boys did as she said, following them through the hallway and finding Paige in the living room, dressed casually and sporting large sunglasses.

"Hey!" Paige greeted Piper with a big smile and a wave.

"Hi!" Piper greeted back, at which point the two sisters embraced for a few seconds. "I see you got tired of being the office babe, huh?"

"I guess you could say that," Paige stated, little did she know she was about to be bombarded by two happy nephews.

"Aunty Paige!" Wyatt suddenly called, as he and Chris appeared from behind their mother and ran towards their aunt.

"Hey, guys!" Paige greeted back as she happily crouched down to meet her nephews in a loving embrace, reserving one arm for each of the brothers. "How are my two favorite little nephews doing? I see your mommy let you skip school today!"

"Yeah! We were playing orbing tag," Wyatt explained, with just as much gusto and happiness as when he told his mother about the game just about a minute or so ago.

"Orbing tag? Hmm, that's a new one," Paige commented, a little bemused but definitely entertained. "Could you tell me about this game? It sounds a little like freeze tag."

"Which I would win at every time, by the way," Piper remarked with a big smile, referencing her power, as the happiness of the moment completely overcame her.

"Aha! Now there's a clue!" the youngest sister/aunt replied, bouncing the comment naturally as was part of the Halliwell sister charm.

Meanwhile, on the beautiful cosmic-linked island of Valhalla…

"Wow. I can guarantee you, I'll be sure to ask Cole about some of this," Freyja, the divinely beautiful blonde-haired queen of the Valkyries stated as she spoke to the tall, gray-eyed, and equally blonde man in the thick black trench coat and tights with sun designs.

"Yeah, but uh, don't tell him I said anything," the man replied. He knew that it would be obvious to his friend anyway, as the very reason they were walking along together was because she'd summoned him to engage in conversation so that he could enlighten her on a few things. But it was good humor material to feign innocence.

"It doesn't really make any difference," she stated, which showed that the lack of real importance involved in whether she outed him or not wasn't necessarily lost on her.

"You're right. Apart from whether or not I can speak to him and get a good rib in before he finds reason to threaten to kill me," he pointed out, as something else came to mind for him. "But hey um… I've been curious, have you ever encountered anyone named Odin here?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?" Freyja inquired in return.

"Because, according to Viking mythology, Valhalla's essentially owned by a god named Odin," he pointed out to her. "Just thought it was a cool tidbit to ask about."

"I see you've paid attention to the tales," she stated, seemingly impressed as his studiousness. "Well, then; the truth is, we did once have a champion here named Odin. But he was a witch, not a god, and certainly an egotistical blowhard." This comment drew some laughter out of the gray-eyed man, exposing his toothy grin.

"Sounds like this guy's a walking bag of fun to poke at," he remarked.

"I'm sure you could take him. You definitely have the wit necessary, and quite frankly, you've done more for us the day you became champion than he did his entire time," Freyja complimented him, before something, or someone, suddenly appeared to their right, and the security alarm rang all over the island. Immediately the two looked over and noticed the Latin-looking tan-skinned man, black clad and raven-haired, with a keen expression on his face, obviously a demon.

"_Estás de broma,_" the visitor expressed with an exasperated groan to clarify his meaning in case his Spanish words didn't do.

"It's okay. Call off the alarm," the blond man instructed the queen while still looking at the suspicious visitor. "I can handle this." Seconds later, with some concentration from Freyja, the alarm was turned off.

"Finally," the newcomer stated, his thick Spanish accent still apparent.

"Do yourself a favor. Talk. Who are you, and how'd you find this place?" the trench coat-wearing champion demanded.

"Ah, _muchacho_. I'm glad you asked. My name is Zhariggo Zhaikos. But I'm afraid that's all you can know. Because you're going to die," the demon declared, before forming a fireball in his left hand and hurling it at the champion. However, he was able to dodge the attack by orbing in red, following which he held his right arm over the left shoulder of his coat and a spear with a wire-like handle, same color as the coat suddenly appeared there. He took the weapon by the wire and launched it towards the demon, who was surprised and stabbed through the stomach by the extending weapon, exploding in flames shortly afterwards. The now bloody spear then receded back into the coat, and the blonde gladiator felt like something refreshing was seeping through his veins, taking an intoxicated breath before turning to Freyja and looking back and forth between her and where Zhaikos once stood.

"Um… Derrick? Are you okay?" Freyja asked in concern, taking a few steps towards him, until finally his eyes met hers.

"I think I may have just found the sign I've been looking for," Derrick replied.

A couple of hours off from there, one of the many open fields at Golden Gate Park saw Piper and Paige arrive with each hand of Piper's occupied by holding a hand of either of her children, and of course, with certain men behind them talking while carrying picnic baskets.

"So, this new power he gave you only works in the manor?" Paige's mortal husband Henry stated in aside to the former Elder.

"Yeah, I can only swirl back and forth between the manor and Magic School," Leo explained. "I know, it's not much compared to my old powers, but I can't exactly expect a normal life if I'm back to orbing around all over the place, now can I?"

"Good point. You better make sure to keep that in mind," Piper quickly quipped, definitely not missing a beat with her husband. Paige let out a giggle at the interaction between Piper and Leo. Still occasionally snipping, but all in good fun. It was good to know that some things hadn't changed a bit over the summer. Not too far ahead were Phoebe and her husband, the cupid Coop, sitting blissfully calm next to the large red and white plaid picnic blanket set on the grass, as they'd already found themselves and the whole group a spot. As the footsteps and voices came closer, Coop turned around and finally noted the presence of the others.

"Look, the family's here," Coop said to his wife, pointing in the direction of the others. Her gaze followed his finger's lead and she would catch sight of her sisters, brothers-in-law, and nephews as well.

"Hey, guys! Over here!" Phoebe called out while waving with both arms and plastering a huge smile on her face, happy to see her sisters again.

"There's our beautiful sister!" Piper practically sang with a beaming smile.

"Phoebe!" Paige called in a similar tone, taking off and leading the charge toward Phoebe and Coop.

"Whoa, not fair!" Piper mock-complained at Paige getting ahead of her, as she and the kids let go of each other's hands and ran after Paige themselves. Leo and Henry briefly exchanged glances and each managed a chuckle, while as Paige was the first to embrace Phoebe. She kept it on for about ten seconds, but noticeably a small bit longer than she usually did whenever she visited Phoebe at work. There was a particular reason for that, actually. The summer months have actually seen a slight decrease in the level of communication between the sisters, with Paige's visits to the Bay Mirror becoming less frequent.

"Hey, don't forget about your big sister here," Piper stated in humorous spirit, to which Phoebe and Paige finally let go so Phoebe could turn to Piper.

"Piper, I'm insulted. I could never forget about you. Come here!" Phoebe proclaimed happily as she and Piper now hugged each other. Theirs was also slightly longer than usual. It's actually been over a month since Phoebe, Coop, and Piper were last all in P³ at the same time, their attendance at the club on designated family lounging days waning somewhat to other affairs.

"You know, you and Coop really need to start making an effort to be around more often again. It's been too long since I've seen you both at once," Piper .

"Okay, but before you send me to the gallows, you were the only one that didn't show up Sunday at P³. Speaking of which, how'd the restaurant search go?" Phoebe inquired, half curious and half making a point.

"Well, it went decently enough, but it's not just P³. You guys haven't even come to the manor in three weeks," Piper reminded her. She couldn't go no further in her small browbeating of Phoebe before a child's throat could be heard clearing - Wyatt's, in particular. The sisters looked down and saw that he and Chris were anxious awaiting their aunt Phoebe's attention.

"Hey!" she quickly started in a chipper smile as she came down and allowed them to hug her as well. "Wyatt; Chris! How have you guys been? Are you having fun together in school now?"

"Yeah! But we got to skip today because of the picnic!" Wyatt informed Phoebe cheerfully.

"You guys know that's only for today, right?" she then asked, to which they both nodded.

Meanwhile, hidden in the shade of a nearby tree stood two youths, a young man and a girl. The young man appeared to be in his twenties and had a stern, rectangle-shaped head with medium brown hair and keen blue eyes, clad in black shirt and suit coat and dark blue jeans. The girl was considerably smaller, her black hair longer, and her appearance more youthful and Asian in comparison. She wore a sleeveless purple dress shirt with similar jeans to her male companion.

"You know, this is just wasting time. Why did you have to call me here if she hasn't even shown up yet?" the young man replied, clearly getting impatient with the wait for someone.

"I don't know what's taking so long, Petrie. I could've sworn she was gonna be coming soon," the girl stated.

"Dalia, I didn't ask you to guess when you think she'll come. I asked you to call me when she does come," the guy, Petrie, stated condescendingly. "You're a really bad subordinate, do you know that?"

"Well, then maybe I'd be 'better' for you if I actually agreed to be called by that word. Anyway, you can thank me when she comes," Dalia retorted without fail, an amused smirk coming to Petrie's features because of it as the two continued to watch.

"So what's going on with the whole parole thing?" Coop asked Henry after the guys just finished exchanging their own greetings.

"A couple more guys I've been looking after are finally making some progress," Henry announced. "How about you, cupid? Shoot any arrows lately?"

"No, and to be honest, I'm having a little bit of trouble with a charge of mine," Coop admitted, before turning to the former Elder. "Oh, Leo, how's magic school?"

"It feels great. Kinda reminds me of some old times, actually," Leo replied. "By the way, guys; where's Billie?"

"Oh, she called about, um…" Phoebe stopped to check her watch, "…oh, twenty minutes ago, and said she'd be running a little late. She just finished up on some studying stuff she says has been holding her up."

"Really?" So when can we expect her here? Like, right after we're almost finished and about to leave?" Paige sardonically semi-joked, the "semi" coming from the fact that such a jest about the younger woman could actually be rooted in reality these days. Truth be told, if the sisters were beginning to slowly become distant from each other over the summer on the basis of the waning of their time spent together in that time, Billie had been slowly becoming a bit distant for over a year.

"Actually, seeing how it took you guys a bit of a while to show up yourselves, I'm not sure we'll even get past getting the plates out before she shows up," Coop honestly stated. "At least, if she's really coming."

"Yeah, that's the big if," Piper pointed out. "Not that I blame her or anything. I mean, you can understand why she's been withdrawn from us ever since that day, but it's been close to sixteen months since then. When is she gonna work on getting over this thing?"

"Hey, guys! Over here!" a certain voice suddenly called out off to the far side. Immediately the group turned around and saw…

"Billie!" Piper exclaimed her name, as she noticed the blonde at last walking towards them. They weren't the only ones who took note of the presence of Billie, however; the duo hidden in the leaves took a few steps outward, and Petrie flicked his hand forward in her direction a little bit, sending a quick gust of wind-like energy which hit Billie right in the stomach, quickly causing her to fall back , as well as causing a momentary major gust of wind to attack the general area

"Billie!" Phoebe shouted, this time with much more concern than Piper's call just a few seconds ago, as the whole group quickly dropped everything and ran to tend to the girl, completely oblivious at this point to the picnic blanket being blown away by the wind. Out of the six, Paige was the first to get to her, and as such she quickly checked her pulse.

"She's out cold, but she's breathing," Paige reported. Leo, at this moment, had a strange but bad feeling about the abrupt wind that came with whatever attacked Billie and looked back at a certain tree. There was nothing there, but he still wasn't convinced that this was in any way natural.

* * *

NOTE: A billion years- yes, I'm well aware. It's become the pattern. But finally, this show is on the road. Time to read and review, folks! I'm hoping I can have some fun with this.

-Pac.


	2. Ep1, PtB

_**Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils**_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Show and cast disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, and co., as are all characters and pieces of the storyline previously depicted on the show. Characters created by either myself or a friend of mine who for all intents and purposes we will call Blacksheep Noble will be depicted with an asterisk in "casting" credits in the first episode they appear. Preexisting characters whose names I devise will have their in-show identities placed within dashes for their first appearance in this story. Regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either were and/or would be portrayed by actual specific human beings, each with at least an iota of believable acting ability, each owned by self, and none having actually acted the events introduced by this story. And last but not least, I own none of the suggested episode music, either. *sigh*. There, hope that covers it.

Rated: T for Teen

Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."

NOTE: Forgot to add. Before anyone asks. The central date is basically the date that each "episode" would've aired and thus the date that most (if not all) of it occurs on.

**

* * *

**

**Episode 1 - "Rekindling the Spirit of Charmed"**

_Central Date: September 5, 2007_

_

* * *

_

_Part B_

Back at the Halliwell Manor about an hour and a half later, Billie was laid on the sofa in the sitting room, Phoebe was standing next to the sofa with a look of clear worry etched on her face, and Henry and Coop were seated on each of the mini-sofas. Piper, Leo, and Paige were upstairs looking in the Book of Shadows, after Leo had expressed his suspicion that there was some demonic activity involved behind Billie's sudden episode and the gust that followed it. As the possibility of Leo's point crossed her mind, Phoebe thought about it and it didn't make this any easier on her.

"I just- I don't understand. We spent eight long years taking care of all the most powerful evil threats from an entire generation of demons. Who could still be out there that's capable of knocking out Billie, of all people, just like that?" she voiced her question in disbelief. The possibility that they might have actually missed something crossed her mind roughly, causing her to internally kick herself and outwardly release a heavy sigh.

"Phoebe, there's nothing you or any of us could've done. We don't even know what happened," Coop pointed out, serving as comfort to his wife of about a year. "I'm sure once your sisters and Leo figure this out, we'll be able to take care of whatever or whoever caused this to happen."

"Besides, Billie isn't exactly what you call short on fight. She'll be okay," Henry reassured her. Right on cue, it seemed, Billie began to slowly stir, a soft moan coming from her as she squinted and lightly moved before slowly opening her eyes.

"Billie?" Phoebe asked, immediately hovering over the blonde in concern as Coop and Henry each stood up and walked over to her as well.

"Huh? Phoebe? Guys… where am I? What happened?" Billie asked them, confused as to what she was doing indoors. Phoebe let out a quick relieved chuckle at the fact that she was generally, clearly, okay.

"I'm not sure," the second still-living Charmed One next stated. "But, my sisters and Leo are looking into that now, so I think we'll find out sooner than later."

"Wait, so… we're in the Manor?" Billie assessed, clear proof that she was still shaking the cobwebs in her head.

"Yeah," Coop responded. "How are you feeling?"

"Um… fine, I guess," Billie said without thinking about it. But that was until she tried to move up out of hed and realized that her body didn't feel quite as lively as usual. "Well, actually… I think I'm kinda tired, a little bit."

"Okay, Billie. Just rest up while we figure this out, okay? Cause it'll be all over soon," Phoebe assured the 21-year-old blonde, who nodded her head in compliance, closed her eyes, and continued to rest for the time being.

In the attic, Piper nervously sifted through the pages of the Book of Shadows while Paige and Leo stood alongside, searching for anything that could've presented a clue, such as possible wind demons or phenomena. So far, the search was not exactly bearing great fruit.

"You have got to be kidding me. Other than Shax, there is absolutely nothing in this book about any wind demons that should be any sort of a threat," Piper complained, exasperatedly closing the pages of the book before them. She'd just finished looking through the book and noticed an obscure entry on a kind of demon that fought using wind, but was always low-level and considered even more minor a threat than the Stillman sisters had been a few years ago.

"Wait, are you sure that there's nothing in that entry about the Thyellaves demons to suggest that they could have something to do with this?" Paige asked, still trying to be hopeful that they were getting somewhere.

"No, I don't think so. I didn't see anything flying away when I looked back, and there weren't any feathers left anywhere near the tree. According to the Book of Shadows, their teleporting leaves a feather where they stood, not to mention they can fly," Leo corrected her, accurately stating everything they'd seen in the book.

"Great, so we have no idea what we're going up against," Paige swiftly assessed, then stopped still for a moment. "…wow. That's a new one."

"No, Paige, it's just been a long time since we've had to say that," Piper corrected her.

"Well, we can't give up now. There has to be some clue that we're overlooking, or something that'll come to us and answer our questions," Leo stated, trying to be encouraging.

"Why don't you go check with that Elder boss of yours running Magic School now, Jonas? He should have some kind of answer for us on this, right?" Piper suggested. Little did she realize, that in itself was a stroke of genius.

"Wait a minute, that's it," Leo spontaneously stated as he was inspired by something. "Two weeks ago, Jonas and I were talking. He said he had a feeling that the peace that's been in the air for a long time was probably not gonna stay forever."

"So? What are you saying, that the Elders knew this was gonna happen?" Piper accused, figuring very much that it sounded like them to only butt in when they weren't needed.

"Well- no, they didn't know that this would happen, specifically," Leo stated. "But, Jonas gave me some valuable advice. He said, 'Should the going get tough again, and you know it will at some point, remember what you know.' There's definitely gotta be an answer to this in something we've done before."

"Wait a second, you're right. Piper, you said other than Shax there's nothing in the Book strong enough that works with wind, right?" Paige restated, to which Piper nodded in agreement. "Well, what if whatever we're dealing with _is_ related to Shax somehow, like maybe the same or a similar type of wind demon or something?"

"Hold on, so you're saying we should take the Shax vanquishing spell and redo it somehow?" Piper asked, to which Paige quickly nodded. "Okay, then you and I are gonna have to sit down and do this thing."

"Huh? What about Phoebe? Shouldn't we tell her what we're planning? I mean, she is our best spell writer," Paige pointed out.

"Yes, and we _really_ wanna drag her away from Billie right now," Piper sarcastically noted, reaffirming to Paige that it would be the two of them at work.

Downstairs, as Phoebe, Coop, and Henry continued to tend to Billie, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"I'll get it!" Phoebe called out, making sure that everyone heard, including her sisters and Leo in the attic, before she made her way through the hall and to the front door. She opened it to see a somewhat muscular-looking young man about Billie's age with short jet black hair in a black Affliction shirt and blue jeans.

"Um… hi, who are you?" was Phoebe's question for the man. The manner in which she asked it, if compared to the way she would've asked ten years ago, was proof of the changes that she'd undergone over the past few years. Whereas the younger Phoebe would've spoken in a way that clearly hinted interest in the "hunk of man-meat" before her, the current Phoebe was much more matter-of-fact about guys after everything she'd been through in the name of love in that time, not the least of which being her current marriage to the Cupid who she loved.

"Hello. My name's Keith. How are you doing?" he asked, in a casual, cool voice.

"Hey. I'm Phoebe, and I'm confused- do we know each other from somewhere, or something?" Phoebe asked, honestly confused as to his motives or even who he was.

"No, not exactly. But we do have a common acquaintance," he continued, her looking at him even more quizzically. "Billie?"

"Oh!" Phoebe sounded off, succumbing to sheepish laughter as she just realized what this guy was here for. "So you're here to see Billie? Well, I'm glad she has such a concerned guy looking after her, but how did you find this place?"

"Well, she told me she comes here often, so… yeah," he replied, successfully hiding the fact he was getting a little impatient. Well, for long enough, anyway. "Well, can I see her? Or is there something going on that I don't-"

"No, no, no. She's just kinda resting up. Bit of a long day and all. But you can come on in and check up on her if you want," Phoebe offered.

"Sure, I'd like that," Keith replied, before Phoebe stepped aside and allowed him to enter, then closed the door before leading him to the sitting room.

"Hey, it looks like we have a visitor," Phoebe stated as Henry and Coop turned around. Billie also tilted her head to take a look, and once she saw who it was she let out a light gasp in surprise; she hadn't expected him to be here.

"Who's this?" Henry asked as soon as he saw the guy walking behind Phoebe.

"Apparently a guy who's interested in Billie," Coop guessed, to which Keith gestured a single nod in his direction.

"The name's Keith Shard," Keith introduced himself as he extended his hand to the other two men.

"Henry Mitchell," Henry returned the favor as well as accepted the handshake.

"And I'm Phoebe's husband. My name is Coop," Coop stated, showing his own hand to their new visitor. However, unlike Henry when Keith had offered his hand, Keith didn't return the handshake, instead looking at him with an incredulous stare.

"Coop?" he asked condescendingly, as if questioning the very mental capacity of his existence, solely because of his name.

"Yeah, that's pretty much all you're gonna get out of him, so don't push it," Phoebe quickly rose vocally in defense of her husband, to which Keith offered a sardonic chuckle and a smirk before finally accepting the handshake with Coop.

"Well played," he stated, then broke off the handshake and quickly turned to Billie, coming down to look her in the eyes. "Bills, what's going on?" Phoebe looked a little quizzical at the nickname Keith just addressed Billie by, especially considering how he just tried to deal Coop a cold blow over his own name.

"Keith… what are you doing here?" Billie asked.

"Well, I kinda just wanted to see you. Noticed you weren't at the usual spot, and your friends told me you left the campus building for the day," Keith told her. "And, I was just wondering; what would you say to us going out and grabbing a Sundae?"

"I would say that I'd love to, except I'm dead tired right now and I need to just lie down," she stated honestly. He chuckled, as Phoebe and the others observed that clearly this amusing cleverness was a quality of Billie that he seemed to like.

"So, when can I see you?" he courteously asked, making no scene out of any of this.

"Um…" she stopped, taking a moment or so to think about it. "I know this club called P³. I can text you the address."

"Sounds like a plan," Keith stated as stroking her hair back with his right hand, before standing up and turning to the others. "Well, it was good to meet you guys."

"Likewise," Henry answered as he and Keith shook hands again.

"Same here," Phoebe added, while Coop merely nodded his agreement.

"Alright. Later," Keith said as he started off, then quickly turned to Billie again. "Hey, Bills. Make sure you're rested up. I wanna see you lookin' alive and beautiful tonight."

"Oh, I think I can manage that," Billie stated confidently. "See you later, Keith!"

"Right," Keith coolly returned the gesture. "See ya." He saw Phoebe about to open her mouth and quickly intervened. "And… no, Phoebe, it's okay. I can see myself out the door without causing you guys any inconvenience."

"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked as if to offer to escort him out despite his objections, to which he nodded and put a hand up, clearly declining once again.

"Well, another time, folks," the guest then stated.

"Bye!" the others, most audibly Phoebe thanks to her voice, called in farewell as he walked out the door and didn't forget to lock the doorknob on his way out. Paige came down the stairs just in time to briefly see him, then found her way to the sitting room, where she found Billie awake.

"Hey, Pheebs. Who was the guy that just walked out the front door?" Paige asked in curiosity; she'd already connected the dot that this was who Phoebe just answered the door for a couple of minutes ago, so she didn't need to ask that.

"Oh, he's Billie's date at P³ tonight," Phoebe casually replied.

"Wow, I didn't know you could land a date just lying on a sofa after being knocked out," Paige noted.

"I heard that, Paige. And you're not being very supportive," Billie remarked, to which Paige turned in her direction and realized that she was awake.

Meanwhile, as Keith casually walked away, crossed the street, and disappeared amongst the cars, little did he realize, he was being watched carefully by a certain blonde in thick black trench coat and tights, crouching in something of a hawk-like manner on the roof of the Manor. After Keith was relatively out of his sight, Derrick stood up and walked across to the other side, jumping off into the garden behind the Halliwells' sun room and quickly orbing out in red before he touched the ground.

"Before you say anything, Paige, I'm fine, just tired, and yeah, I know, I need to get some rest," Billie quickly said as Paige came over to her.

"Fabulous. That makes looking after you even easier. It's nice to know you care about us so much," Paige replied. Henry's phone suddenly found itself ringing, and the parole officer checked the ID, before answering.

"Mitchell. Really? I'm on my way," he said between pauses, before quickly hung up and turned to Paige. "Sorry, but I have to go and take care of-"

"Honey, it's okay. Just make sure I know you're with me tonight and everything will be fine," she cut him off, as the two shared a quick kiss. Knowing that he had a job to do, which most likely meant an out-of-control parolee to reign in and keep from making a terrible mistake, she let him go on his way, and he became the second man to head out the door in minutes.

"No, Petrie; we won't be fine. Have you even looked at this guy we're working with?" Dalia chastised Petrie down in the Underworld, roundly upset at their situation. "We shouldn't be trusting him! He's never looked out for us before; what makes you think he's starting now?"

"Listen- calm down!" Petrie shouted, immediately placing his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Dalia, I know exactly what you mean. I know he probably doesn't have our best interest in mind. But I thought it would come to this, and I have a plan."

"Are you sure?" Dalia asked her companion hopefully.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing. He and his leader won't be able to stab us in the back, because we'll be ready. Both for the Charmed Ones, and for him if he should ever try something," Petrie declared, rebuilding Dalia's resolve about their mission and making their objectives clear. "When we're finished here, all the Underworld will be forced to recognize… that there will be no more hiding, and neo-ki demons will rise to power." The two finally exchanged pleased yet devious grins, certain of their convictions.

A good hour later, the sun was setting, Coop was still downstairs tending to Billie, since for once he wasn't stacked with a love charge, and the Charmed Ones and Leo were back now to the age-old tradition of working on a spell and discussing a demonic threat together.

"Okay, so are we sure that this spell is good enough?" Piper asked, getting a little neurotic and worrisome, as tended to be her thing sometimes.

"Yeah, it looks pretty good. I mean, we've got the whole 'vanquishing-a-wind-demon' thing down pat, but at the same time pluralized in case we're dealing with more than one demon here, not to mention the wording works around any and all details, now all that's left to come is the demons," Phoebe replied, confident that the spell her sisters cooked up would be enough.

Suddenly, in a quick and equally brief flash of light, the male and female demon appeared. The petite female thrust her right arm forward in a shoving motion, and the energy exerted was able to shove Piper back into the attic door - actually, through the attic door, and down a couple of stairs.

"Piper!" Leo immediately shouted, dashing out of the attic, and breaking a fallen piece of the door on the way out, to get to his wife. Downstairs, Coop and Billie heard the commotion, and in an instant she rose up, while he looked at the stairs and then at her again.

"Billie, come on!" he shouted, grabbing her arm and heart-shining away with her before she understood what was happening, presumably to the condo. He would shine right back to the manor without the prodigal blonde and went straight upstairs, where he saw Leo cupping Piper's head in his hands. Just like Prue that day, she was supposed to be the strongest witch ever; yet just like Prue that fateful day, she was unconscious and had blood running out the back of her head. Leo's fear was clearly visible on his face, the thought of losing Piper now, to this, after all they'd gone through and worked for, too great to bear.

"No… no, Piper, you've gotta stay with me," Leo cried, the tears beginning to form as her breathing, the only form of response, weakened by the second. Phoebe and Paige came over from the attic as well, and they quickly noticed the former's husband.

"Coop, is Billie-"

"Yeah, she's safe," he reassured his wife, knowing what she would ask before she could finish the sentence.

"Leo, let me see her!" Paige quickly shouted, to which Leo receded slightly and allowed her to work her magic, and she placed her hands over Piper in the healing position. "Come on, Piper, stay with us, I'm here to help!" She pleaded, hoping that it would get Piper to stay strong. As the healing process began, Dalia and Petrie took a few steps closer to where the door used to stand, then exchanged a glance between one another.

"Think we should inerrupt?" Dalia asked her older companion.

"I say yes," Petrie decided, before quickly coming out, turning Phoebe around, and kicking her right into Coop, sending the two of them tumbling down that part of the staircase. This interruption caused Paige to stop the healing.

"Coop; Phoebe!" she called to them, hoping that they were alright. She hadn't been able to finish up healing Piper, but she did manage to slow the bleeding down enough to where Piper wouldn't be dying within the next five minutes, which was enough to relieve Leo somewhat for the time being. She quickly turned to the two demonic attackers.

"You!" she screamed furiously, only for Petrie and Dalia to both quickly vanish and reappear in a flash right beside Paige, quickly grabbing both of her arms and dragging, then throwing, her back into the attic.

"Paige!" Leo screamed in concern, looking back and forth between her and his wife, unsure of whether to stay with Piper or to go and help Paige. The youngest Charmed One was currently being backed into a corner, literally, by the two neo-ki demons, who were ready to destroy her.

"I hope you weren't planning on vanquishing us, Paige, because that's not going to happen," Petrie threateningly declared, as he and Dalia continued to leer over Paige, a mischievous grin coming onto the demon girl's face. Suddenly, red orbs filled the room behind the two of them, and before anyone knew it, they both would find a black flexible spear go right through their lower backs and stick out of their midsections. Paige would gasp in shock at the sight of the spear blades, then at the sight of the bloody holes that resulted from the spears going back. As both Petrie and Dalia fell to their knees, then let out harrowing screams as they exploded into vanquished flames, Paige was able to see a certain tall man with shoulder-length blond hair, long armor-like trench coat, black tights with red sun designs mostly hidden behind the coat, and as a new feature that he hadn't sported yet today, red-framed black sunglasses covering his eyes. She was slightly creeped out at the way he stood there, his head tilted upward as if euphorically taking something in. Quickly, she stood up and put herself on guard, not knowing what to do about this newcomer to the picture.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Paige bluntly asked, getting straight to the heart of the matter, as he finally took a breath of relief and turned to her, a smug smirk on his face.

"My name is Derrick Brady, and I came here to save your ass. I'm a hybrid, like you; half-whitelighter, half-vampire, widely known in certain places by my demonic middle name Serkan," he poignantly proceeded to inform her. She slightly revolted at the half-vampire part, remembering an incident she once had with that species, as well as figuring that had to do with his overcome-looking state from a second ago. His face suddenly became more serious, however, as he took off his sunglasses and revealed steely gray eyes. "And as for what I want? I don't 'want' anything. I just get the sense that your family and I are gonna _need_ each other a whole lot more from now on."

"Wait a second- what's that supposed to mean!" Paige immediately demanded. However, she wouldn't get any response, apart from his swift departure from the scene in red orbs. "Shoot!" she shouted in frustration, before Leo, Coop, Phoebe suddenly came barging through the doorway.

"Paige, what hap…" Phoebe suddenly stopped, realizing that there were no demons inside. "…what's going on? What happened to the demons?"

"What do you mean? Leo, you didn't hear any of that?" Paige asked, thinking for sure Leo was close enough that he would've heard Derrick introduce himself.

"No, we were setting Piper downstairs. She's in the sun room, still waiting for you to fully heal her," Leo replied.

"Well then," Paige started as she understood his answer, "that makes that a long story. I've got a sister to heal." Paige quickly orbed down to the conservatory, where she saw Piper seated as though asleep on one of the plastic chairs. "Stay tight, sis. You're gonna be fine." She put her hands over Piper, the glow began, and finally stopped as she finished healing Piper up good as new. Piper gave a small moan, as she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, catching sight of her sister hovering above her and the others running in.

"Paige, what hap-"

"Shhh. Long story," Paige cut her sister off. "But you're fine now. We all are. And we will be, from now on." And with that, smiles were exchanged between the three sisters, as well as Leo and Coop.

Later that night, the group found themselves all together at P³. Leo, Coop, and Henry were talking at the bar table, buying drinks for the girls, while said girls, meaning the Halliwell sisters and Billie, sat in the lounging area, while they, along with all of tonight's patrons, stood listening to techno artist BT perform his song "Emotional Technology".

"So this whitelighter-vampire guy, he just took care of our demon problem and then left?" Piper asked for clarification, to which Paige nodded, verifying the story that she told the group about the new player in their lives.

"And his name is… Derrick, right?" Billie asked, her memory still a bit muddy on that one.

"Yeah. Derrick Serkan Brady, to be exact," Paige added, the others nodding and taking in the information. "Though, onto another subject. I actually recorded a song with BT once a few years ago. From the same album as this song, actually."

"Oh? Really? When did that happen?" Phoebe inquired, her tone stuck somewhere between impressed and amused.

"Yeah, I even have the album at home," Paige continued, in a slightly bragging mood. "Seriously, I can show you. It clearly says on the back that track 3 is 'Superfabulous' featuring-"

"Hey, ladies. Sorry to interrupt," Keith's voice abruptly cut into Paige's point, as the girls noticed his presence, especially the smiling Billie. "Phoebe, I take it these are your sisters, Paige and Piper, am I correct?"

"Okay, see, why did I need to introduce myself if you already know who we are?" Phoebe asked him curiously.

"Oh, you didn't. Your husbands, on the other hand… well, apart from Leo, they've never turned up in any articles," Keith pointed out.

"That's because these two married a lot more recently than I did," Piper stated a bit proudly, though she had reason for that, being the mother of two, and it managed to get Keith to let out a chuckle. "By the way, who are you, anyway?"

"He, is Keith Wison Shard," Billie introduced him, standing up and smiling brightly at that. "And he's my date tonight."

"And, I'm open to this dance," Keith said, placing a muscular arm around Billie, to which she looked up at him.

"I didn't think techno was your thing," she smiled impressed.

"Well, I'm open to give it a try," Keith stated, getting Billie to offer a bright giggle. "Well, then, let's go." No sooner did he say that than he and Billie turned around and headed for the dance floor.

"Ooh! Would you look at that?" Phoebe marked out, impressed with the protégé's choice of guys.

"Wow, if this guy's why she's been pretty distant lately, I think she'll be alright," Paige assessed, her opinion of Keith not far from Phoebe's. "Though, I think that for us, the whole time being distant thing has been completely played out and deserves to stop."

"Girl, you can say that again," Piper chimed in, to which the three sisters found themselves giggling together, oblivious to the fact that their husbands' eyes found them fascinating at least for those few seconds.

Meanwhile, in the back alley, leaning back on the wall with his arms folded and one foot against the wall stood a certain half-vampire half-whitelighter, with the sunglasses back over his eyes and a toothy grin on his face…

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NOTE: This is a bit longer than I wanted it to be, but then again I think it came out well, folks. Anyway, before anything else - let it be known that I need readers, and I need reviewers. So come on out, peeps, don't be shy. Let me know what's on your minds. I'll be seeing you guys in a bit of a spell soon.

-Pac.


	3. Ep2: New Underworld Order

_**Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils**_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Show and cast disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, and co., as are all characters and pieces of the storyline previously depicted on the show. Characters created by either myself or a friend of mine who for all intents and purposes we will call Blacksheep Noble will be depicted with an asterisk in "casting" credits in the first episode they appear. Preexisting characters whose names I devise will have their in-show identities placed within dashes for their first appearance in this story. Regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either were and/or would be portrayed by actual specific human beings, each with at least an iota of believable acting ability, each owned by self, and none having actually acted the events introduced by this story. And last but not least, I own none of the suggested episode music, either. *sigh*. There, hope that covers it.

Rated: T for Teen

Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."

NOTE: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, peeps of all ages - I know people are reading this story, but I'm not a mind-reading conch. I can't tell what anybody reading from another computer in a place that I have no clue about is thinking. So please, if you can, don't forget to review with any comments or questions. I will try to address them in future notes here. Hearing thoughts from the peepulace can actually be a big motivator. Thank you very much.

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**Episode 2 - "New Underworld Order"**

_Central Date: September 12, 2007_

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_Part A_

At the Bay Mirror building, things were hustling and bustling as they most usually tended to be. All the editors were at work, the grammar guy was getting flak about over-editing articles, and of course, Phoebe was busy in her office room typing material for another one of her advice columns. She was almost finished answering an advice question that she got in the mail, and she was confident that her insight would genuinely help the most people on this question than any others that she had today. She never liked taking questions just to merely fill her part of the paper, and one could see it in the focus that she typed with that on. She just finished up putting the last period, and began reading the question and her answer over to see how well it read.

"'Dear Phoebe'," she read to herself, "'Thank you for the column you wrote on inattentive lovers a couple of weeks ago. You really helped me connect with my boyfriend in a new-'"

"Excuse me- Phoebe?" a woman's voice interrupted her proofreading. As she looked in the direction of her open door, she recognize the long-haired oval-faced blonde woman in a small suit as her assistant.

"Yeah? What's going on? I was just reading over one of my column answers," Phoebe asked.

"Oh. Well, sorry to interrupt, but there's a guy outside waiting to see me," the assistant replied. Phoebe sighed, as if knowing exactly what was happening.

"Look, if it's my husband, just go ahead and tell him we're ordering Chinese today," the focused brunette replied nonchalantly, not feeling the need to take time out to tell Coop what they would be eating today for the fiftieth time.

"Oh, no, it's not your husband," the assistant informed her, to which she instantly looked more alert. "It's a guy with messy black hair and a British accent that says he's got some kind of business with you." Phoebe found herself frowning in suspicion at her assistant's words, which the blonde easily noticed in very little time. "Do you want me to tell him you're busy, or-"

"No! No, no, you don't need to do that," Phoebe quickly stood up and cut in, surprising the other woman. "Come on, I wanna see who this is."

"Okay. Follow me," the assistant replied, to which she turned and Phoebe followed her out the room, through the rest of the newspaper office, and out into the hallway. When Phoebe saw the man, pretty much the same as her assistant had described, she immediately recoiled in recognition of who he was and turned to her assistant.

"It's okay. Go. I've got this," Phoebe quickly instructed her assistant, who nodded and walked back into the paper room. This was fortunate, too; she recognized him and got an instant bad feeling about it.

"Hello, Phoebe," the man stated cordially, as if in no way an opponent to Phoebe right now.

"What do you want?" she poignantly asked, her memory not failing her that he was one of the demons that had enlisted the Charmed Ones' help, so to speak, against the Triad sixteen months ago.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" he asked as if unconcerned, again making pleasantries and leaving her even more on guard. "I know. You don't trust me. Nor should you. But you should trust the information I'm about to give you."

Elsewhere, a maroon 2003 Hyundai Accent was parked at the South Bay Social Services parking lot, before Paige stepped out in a beautiful suit with bright green coat and pants, carrying her purse on her right shoulder and crossing the street to get into the building. Once she entered, she quickly found that the people were moving and working along at the normal pace that she remembered from her last time here, but also that most of the desks appeared a bit tidier than she last remembered. She approached the receptionist, who was a young woman with wavy raven black hair and .

"Um, excuse me, but I'm Paige Matthews and I have an appointment with your boss today. Can you…?" Paige courteously asked the girl.

"Sure. Hold on a second," the girl replied, getting up from her seat and heading over towards the office on the other side of the building. As Paige stood and calmly and tapped the table in a rhythm with her right index and middle fingers, she got to think for a second about how she really wanted this job. Ever since she made it through her parents' death she'd always enjoyed helping people, which becoming a witch and whitelighter only enhanced on a magical level. She'd had quite a few charges in the past few years, but the frequency of that was starting to dwindle off in a major way, and the first thing she knew that allowed her the chance to keep folks as troubled as she once was afloat, was here at South Bay. Not noticing the girl walking back towards her, she wondered what would be the look on Mr. Cowan's face once he saw her again.

"He's ready for you," the girl said, startling Paige for a moment.

"Oh, thanks," Paige acknowledged nervously once she recovered her senses. "Sorry to be so air headed right now, I'm just-"

"I know. Old job comeback. I've been there. But trust me, you'll be fine," the girl cut her off, reassuring her. "There's a lot of boss talk about you coming in, and I know he's been really looking forward to meeting you. Between you and me, I don't think this is the last time we'll see each other. Oh, by the way, I'm Michelle." She quickly introduced herself and extended her hand, showing Paige much goodwill, which the redhead saw was sincere.

"Thanks," Paige honestly replied, accepting the handshake. "Well, then, I guess I'll see you around, I hope."

"Good luck," Michelle bade her well, as the handshake broke. As Paige nodded her acceptance of this with a smile and walked off toward the office, she knew that she and this girl would be fast friends if she did get the job.

When she reached the doorway and leaned her head around it, she was instantly shocked at who she saw. Apart from skin color, there was nothing familiar about him. This was a slim-bodied, oval-faced African American man dressed in a black suit with a white shirt, gray tie, and a purple kerchief sticking out of his coat pocket. He had a low fade hairstyle and Van Dyke facial hair, and he was casually leaning his feet on his desk while reading the September 3rd edition of TIME Magazine with Mother Teresa on the cover. After a few seconds, he noticed that he wasn't alone, and he turned around to greet Paige with his dark brown eyes. To which she let out a gasp in response.

"Hey, come on in!" he greeted her knowingly with a cheerful smile, as he took his feet off the desk. Tentatively, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, to which he responded by getting up and walking around the desk to meet her.

"I'm Clinton James. But people usually call me Tex," he confidently introduced himself, extending his hand.

"Tex?" she asked, his behavior and the general fact that she had no idea who he was leaving her totally confused.

"Yeah, since I've been through both Texas and New York in recent years, it's kinda become my nickname here," Tex explained.

"Oh!" Paige let out in response, briefly shaking his hand while continuing. "Well, then, I'm Paige Matthews, and you might've heard of me as one of the Homeland Security sisters, but I'd really like to not talk about that too much."

"Don't worry, that's not even why I'm excited to meet you. I'm excited because I didn't know Cowan had such loyal ex-employees ever leave on their own terms," he said as he walked back into hid desk space. Noting that the room seemed a bit wide, she looked to the side of his desk and finally saw that there was another one next to it, which made her realize what was going on. This, combined with his latest comment and really the whole situation in itself, left her feeling thoroughly embarrassed. Her résumé and cover letter had been addressed directly and only to Mr. Cowan, who she'd merely assumed was still the only boss here. Tex's comment meant that obviously he'd seen it and gotten a real chuckle out of it.

"Go ahead, have a seat," he instructed warmly and gestured in her general direction, noticing her discomfort. Shaken out of her worried daze, Paige looked behind her and saw the row of chairs against the wall.

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Principal Cast (Main Credits): Alter Bridge - "Open Your Eyes (Charmed Edge Army Mix)"

::Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell-Wyatt

::Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell

::Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews

::Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt

::Adam "Edge" Copeland as Derrick Serkan Brady

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City Scope Theme: Lostprophets - "We Still Kill The Old Way"

::Ivan Sergei as Henry Mitchell

::Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins

::Sammy Jack as Christopher (Chris) Perry Halliwell

::Victor Webster as Coop

::Randy Orton as Keith Wilson Shard

::Rik Young as Nomed

:Leslie Grossman as Lori -Phoebe's Assistant-

:Rebecca Balding as Elise Rothman

:Nathalie Kelley as Michelle*

:Nigel Gibbs as Jonas

:Jesse L. Martin as Clinton "Tex" James*

:Donn Swaby as Zohar

:Michael Eklund as Ravvon

:Michael Emerson as Fabian Axakentos

:Willie Gault as Durant*

:Yancey Arias as Cortez

:James Read as Victor Bennett

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Phoebe had quickly deduced that whatever business her "demon friend" had with her at the moment, it wasn't something that could be discussed freely inside the walls of the Bay Mirror. Thus, she immediately suggested for the two of them to take whatever they had to talk about outside, and he promptly agreed with no protest, exiting the building and walking off to the side of the double door with her. This is where they currently stood, as he'd just gotten through explaining something to her about an Underworld uprising or movement or something.

Phoebe and the demon now stood outside the Bay Mirror building, where she'd quickly decided to take this, as she knew that whatever business he had with her, it wasn't something that could be discussed freely inside. He'd quickly agreed with no protest, coming out to meet her

"Wait, hold on, step back for a minute. What did you just say?" Phoebe asked, wanting the guy to repeat himself. Aside from the details being a bit sketchy, she hoped that he was kidding, because after over a year of peace, she did not want to have to go through regular demon hunting again.

"There seems to be a revolution starting to stir in the Underworld," he announced again, much to her dismay. "I don't quite blame you if you're questioning the details, because I'm not completely certain on it myself, but there's a group of demons that are growing impatient with what they call a lifestyle of cowardice that's become predominant down there."

"So you're saying that a handful of demons are tired of running away? Well, we just vanquished two of those demons last week, and one of them was a girl who looked half my age," Phoebe stated, hoping that simplifying what the demon was telling her would mean something like this; something that evidenced that this was just a brief rebellion and that the Underworld wouldn't be storming back to war against them, or at least wouldn't stand much of a chance if it did. "So whatever 'movement' this is that's sprucing up, maybe you can send them a message. If they try to come after us, they'll die just like all the demons that came before them and went up against us have."

"I wouldn't doubt that in the least. Considering who you are, and all," the demon conceded. "I would expect that you took care of those two in quick time.

"Well, you said it yourself. No demon left standing is powerful enough to challenge us," Phoebe reminded him.

"Yes, you're right. Though, from what I've heard, Piper didn't walk away quite as easily as I'd have thought," he pointed out, much to her surprise and even suspicion, though she managed to mostly keep on a straight face. "It seems even the most powerful witches ever are capable of being caught off guard."

"Thanks for your concern, but that's one mistake you can rest assured won't happen again," Phoebe quickly asserted. The black-haired demon found himself putting on an amused chuckle, drawing a suspicious glare from her. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just… well, guess I can say I'm a bit inspired, by your ever-present chutzpah in the face of potential danger. It's why I can call myself an admirer of yours. Hopefully it continues to pay off," the demon replied, before pretentiously checking his watch for a moment. "Anyway, I'd say now's my cue to leave. I have a contact I promised I wouldn't take too long." The glare, which had died down mid-comment, only deepened, and he could practically sense her suspicion growing after he mentioned the contact.

"Don't worry, it's a, business thing," he stated for her satisfaction. She sighed as if "Well, another day, Phoebe. Farewell." He proceeded to take his leave, crossing the street.

"Oh, and I don't believe you ever caught my name; it's Nomed!" he shouted as he kept walking, Phoebe watching him cautiously until she lost him in the sea of cars. She didn't even notice the voice calling her name, which went announced twice, along with the footsteps of none other than the chief editor, Elise Rothman, approaching.

"Phoebe, what are you-" Elise started as she walked toward Phoebe, who also started to turn around to walk back inside.

"Whoa!" Phoebe exclaimed as she saw Elise right in front of her, realizing that she'd almost walked right into her boss. "Elise, when did you get out here?"

"Phoebe, what's going on? Are you okay?" Elise asked curiously, as she could tell that Phoebe was a bit discombobulated at the moment.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm- I'm fine," Phoebe lied, while simultaneously shaking the cobwebs and refocusing herself.

"Well, then come on. Get back inside. You still have a column to finish," Elise wasted no time in instructing her before walking back towards the double door herself.

"Right," Phoebe accorded as she followed Elise back inside.

Pleased at how the chat went with Phoebe, Nomed continued walking, before quickly finding himself a dark spot to shimmer out from. He shimmered back in underneath a tree around Geary Street, where he saw Billie and Keith, both clad in sunglasses, shirt, and jeans, stepping out of the local Juice Zone smoothie store across the street, each with a smoothie in hand. Billie's, which she just took a sip from, was strawberry, while Keith's appeared to be grape.

"Wow, this stuff is pretty good," Billie commented, as the taste of it pleased her.

"Told you it was," Keith stated proudly, before taking a larger sip from his smoothie and sighing in refreshment. "So, you mind telling me about those Halliwell folks and how you got so close them?"

"Oh, come on, Keith. I've already told you that story like, a hundred times," Billie complained, mostly in jest, though part of her was beginning to get annoyed as he'd been sticking to this topic like glue lately.

"Yeah, but I just can't shake the feeling that you're leaving something out," Keith honestly replied, though not with any misgivings about it in his voice. This gave her an opening.

"Well, then, maybe you should be a bit more careful." she spoke teasingly, blissfully unaware of who they had just walked past. Careful not to bump into either one of them and take away from their discussion, Derrick, dressed more human-casually, in fact matching the attire pattern of the pair, stopped to look back at them curiously for a few seconds as they passed by, before continuing on his way. Nomed found a smirk and a chuckle gracing his face, as he shimmered away from the scene.

Meanwhile, Leo found himself walking through the corridors of Magic School, past many other teachers and students who were making their way to the next destination within the allotted five minute break period between classes. He in particular found his way to the headmaster's office, where at the desk and in a black robed suit very similar to what Gideon used to wear, he saw the stocky-faced African American Elder, Jonas (pronounced as "Jonah"). As he heard the footsteps, Jonas looked up and recognized Leo, and was pleased.

"Leo. Glad you could make it," he cordially stated. "I wanted to talk some more about what happened last week. First of all, if you may, close the door, please."

"Oh, right," Leo somewhat sheepishly agreed, closing the door as he probably realized that he could've and usually would've known to do so first thing. This hadn't been their first non-school-related meeting during one of Leo's free periods since the day that the Elders decided to bring Jonas down to be the Headmaster. That decision by the powers that be had been made purely in the interest of allowing Leo the free room to make being a family man paramount in his life and using his magical knowledge in a good way second. So far it was working out well, as Jonas has surprisingly proved to be more open-minded than what was currently thought of most Elders, with Leo able to come to him and discuss his family life openly. "Well, what do you have for me?"

"Well, Leo, obviously I've been thinking about the attack from last week you told me about," Jonas replied matter-of-factly, not surprising Leo in the least. "It looks like my advice to go for what you know. Unfortunately, I really don't know much of anything about a vampire-whitelighter."

"Well, what can you tell me?" Leo asked honestly, wanting to know anything he could about what the family was dealing with.

"Only that something happened in the 1970s, a few years before I became an Elder. A few senior Council members seem to remember the situation, but they're very tight-lipped about the exact details," Jonas informed, before the expression on his face changed and became more serious in tone. "However, Leo… there's something I've been noticing lately about the sisters. A bit of a disturbing trend, personally."

An alarm set off in Leo's head when Jonas said this, as he knew all too well the kind of things that an Elder feeling disturbed by something about the sisters could result in?

"What's that?" he calmly asked, saving face apart from his brows furrowing in suspicion.

"Over the years, the sisters seem to have become a bit… distracted by their personal lives and their desire for normalcy. Now, don't get me wrong. I completely respect their desire to live peaceful, stable lives, but at times they seem to have… not thought things through or not cared very much about their duties as witches sometimes. And these are not arbitrary matters such as things that we Elders have butted heads with your family about before," Jonas stated. Leo's frown would only become more pronounced as he said this, the ex-Elder fearing ill effects from the headmaster's discretion. Looking at his face, Jonas was able to discern this.

"Don't be concerned that I'm going to intervene, Leo. As a matter of principle and trust, I refuse to do anything that forces you to put the Elders' interests above your own. I've come to realize that doing so never turns out well for any of us," Jonas reassured him, to which, to which he. "However, if I may offer my counsel, it is a valid concern. And if demons are attacking the Manor… you need to make sure that the Charmed Ones remember who and what they are and where they come from."

Elsewhere, as she left the SBSS building and walked over to her car, Paige decided to take out her cell phone and issue a certain someone a call.

"Hey, babe! So how'd the interview go? Did you get your job back?" her husband immediately answered the phone to ask, as if confident, almost certain, that he would hear about how successful this interview was.

"Actually, no. And it's not because my old boss had any sort of a grudge against me being here, or because I abruptly left to be a whitelighter, neither of which happened, by the way," she answered, as usual bordering between wit and rambling.

"Okay, then what happened?" Henry asked on the other side, now legitimately concerned.

"Well, if you must know, let's just say that I completely goofed and I didn't even look into things enough to know that he got a new business partner a couple years ago," Paige remarked, now flustered as she took her keys out of her pocket and opened the driver's seat door, having just reached the car.

"Ouch," Henry chuckled, unable to hold it in.

"Are you laughing at me? I just got embarrassed in there!" she complained in retort as she got in the driver's seat and closed the door. Hearing Henry laugh even further on the other side sort of set her off from there. "I'm serious! The first thing the new boss said to me was, 'First of all, I didn't know Cowan had such loyal ex-employees.' Right in front of his assistant!"

"Oh, man. That, is really embarrassing, Paige," Henry realized aloud.

"Duh! Now start taking this seriously or you're sleeping on the couch!" Paige threatened in sharp retort. Now, it wasn't a given that she truly would subject him to sitting on the couch, but just to turn the tables and get some fun in herself, she decided to leave that on the table.

"Sorry," was the only reply he was giving that order. Why? Because that was the only way he could take the obvious choice to give in without appearing like a wimp in front of parolees and coworkers at his SFPD office, where, as the smile that crept on her face indicated, she knew he was.

"It's okay, Henry, you're off the hook, you don't have to worry about sleeping on the couch," she then mercifully excused him. "Besides, it wasn't really all bad."

"Really?" Henry inquired.

"Yeah. Turns out, the new boss is a pretty even keeled guy. His name's Clinton James, but apparently they call him Tex," Paige replied. "We actually got along pretty well, and other than the obvious Cowan thing, I think my credentials and my shining personality impressed him. Plus he said he would be okay for me to leave early or work from home whenever I need to, as long as I tell him and I can still get the work done. I think he's even more even-keeled than Cowan, quite frankly."

"So you still think you're gonna get the job?" Henry guessed, back to the optimist mode.

"Unless one of the couple people he has left to interview upstages me, then yeah." Paige answered. "Anyway, I'm gonna get off now. Don't feel like taking chances on the road today, especially since I really wanna come over and see you."

"Wait, you're coming here?" Henry asked, caught off guard by the revelation of his wife's destination. "I thought you'd be going over to see Piper."

"Is there something outside the lines going on over there that I should know about?" she asked with a suspicious frown.

"Not unless you count the new inspector that's on his first day over here today," Henry answered.

"Wait, there's a new inspector?" she inquired further.

"Well, technically he's not really new, since he's been here before, from what I'm told," he elaborated. "Apparently he came, investigated a death in the city, and left six years ago. His name's Cortez, I think, by the way."

"Cortez?" she repeated more than a little urgently.

"Yeah, why? Do you guys know each other?" Henry asked, taking his own turn to pry.

"I can't say for sure, exactly," she replied. "The name does sound familiar, but I can't quite put a face on it. But this does make me more curious, and interested in coming over there. So I'm really gonna have to get off right now, okay?"

"Okay," Henry finally succumbed. "See you in a few minutes. Drive safe."

"Don't worry, I will," she reassured him. "See you when I get there, okay? Bye! Love ya!" Finally, she pressed "end" on her phone, effectively hanging up, before finally turning the key in the ignition to start the engine.

"Plus I just gotta know who this Cortez guy is," was the last thing she muttered, and also indicative of the last musings running through her mind, before finally getting out of the South Bay Social Services parking lot and driving on her way to see Henry at the department - and hopefully run into this Cortez person there, too.

Back at the Manor, Piper was in Wyatt and Chris's room with Chris, who was stuck in bed today despite it being a school day thanks to a mild fever he caught earlier in the week. At the moment the boy was sleeping peacefully on his bed, with Piper sitting down next to him with a chair. Her eyes shone with a mother's love and concern while she looked at Chris, as she knew that, minor as this was in comparison to some of the things she and the family had gone through in the past to bring him into this world and then to keep him safe, this was yet another they would have to endure together. She especially remembered the future versions of him that have appeared over the years, all of which showed a beautiful, healthy young man with a good head on his shoulders and, depending on the future he came from, maybe some issues, but with their lives that was to be expected. A smile grew on her face at these thoughts, knowing he'd turn out okay as long as she looked out for him, and she would softly stroke his hair back.

However, soon she would find herself checking her watch and realizing she was a bit late for something.

"Oh, shoot…" she quietly stated while her self-induced small panic festered inside. "I'll be right back, honey." She quickly left the room and headed backstage, eager to finish what she had to do so that she could get back up to him in as little time as possible.

Quietly, two figures shimmered just outside the room, though careful to stay out of the ear sights of both Chris and Piper for the time being. They were both demons, as easily hinted by their dark attire, demeanor, and of course the shimmering, and they both had short hair standing up. However, whereas one of them had a mustache, the other, attired in a black suit, had intense, creepy bug-like eyes.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the mustached demon asked his partner.

"Yes, Ravvon. Now if iI wasn't sure about it, what makes you think I'd be doing it?" the big-eyed demon replied with a rhetorical question of his own. "I've gone through every mental calculation over this plan and the conclusion I've come to is that with my power, and your assistance, it's a safe play. Now come on, let's go."

The two demons quickly entered the room and towards the boy, and the bug-eyed one brought his hands up above Chris's head, before beginning to shine in a simmering red. Chris would wake up at that moment and immediately become startled at the sight of the enemies.

"Hi… little boy," he said in an unnervingly controlled tone, which sent Chris screaming.

"Hey!" Piper shouted within seconds, as she had already been on the way up. The demons turned their attention over to her. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing going after my son!"

"The name is Axakentos," the large-eyed demon stated, "and what we want with your son is none of your concern."

"I'll show you none of my concern," Piper threateningly noted, before motioning her hands to try to blow him up. However, each of the five times she tried, she would only end up blowing up air, when Ravvon extended his hand out and put neo-ki energy in the way of her blast, or seemingly insignificant bits when Ravvon did nothing and Axakentos' body went slightly red in response. Eventually, though, she managed to get two quick shots out, leaving Ravvon's energy attempt coming a little late and shocking them backwards, away from Chris.

"Let's go already. This is a loser's quest," Ravvon quickly stated to Axakentos, before taking his hand and shimmering away. This gave Piper free room to immediately pick up the glass of a Gypsy remedy that she'd laid on the ground and go over to her panicked son.

"Chris, Chris, shh, shhh! It's okay, mommy's here. Nothing is gonna happen to you, you're gonna be fine!" she quickly pleaded with him, extending her right arm out to embrace him while holding the drink in her left hand. After a few seconds, he saw that it was only her inside, and he quickly ran into her arm, leaving her able to get him to drink from the remedy.

"You! You have to be kidding me!" Ravvon protested at someone as soon as he and Axakentos arrived in a certain area of the Underworld. "You said if we attacked the child that we'd have the witch right where we want her. Instead you have us facing the fury of Destiny's Matriarch! We could've both been destroyed! I won't partake in this lunacy a second longer."

"But you do have her where you want her," the person they were complaining to spoke in a low whisper, though his distinct British accent would've been recognized by a Halliwell.

"Were you even paying atten-" Ravvon started angrily, until Axakentos stuck his arm out across the neo-ki demon's chest as a hint to stop and silence him.

"And what keeps you arguing that?" Axakentos asked more calmly, as Nomed stepped forward and eyed the two demons.

"Well, you know I wouldn't steer ya wrong," he began, serious and full of recognition, "now would I, Fabian?" A small smile would come etched onto Nomed's face.

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NOTE: I don't think the sisters ever caught Nomed's name. Also, I didn't expect it to be this long, though I probably shouldn't be surprised. That last statement was meant in more ways than one, folks.

-Pac.


	4. Ep2, PtB

_**Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils**_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Show and cast disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, and co., as are all characters and pieces of the storyline previously depicted on the show. Characters created by either myself or a friend of mine who for all intents and purposes we will call Blacksheep Noble will be depicted with an asterisk in "casting" credits in the first episode they appear. Preexisting characters whose names I devise will have their in-show identities placed within dashes for their first appearance in this story. Regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either were and/or would be portrayed by actual specific human beings, each with at least an iota of believable acting ability, each owned by self, and none having actually acted the events introduced by this story. And last but not least, I own none of the suggested episode music, either. *sigh*. There, hope that covers it.

Rated: T for Teen

Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."

NOTE: After reading this one over to myself, I think I may need to kinda plan these episodes out a bit wider. The character development is nice and all, and trust me, I do plan on keeping it up, but my demon attacks feel a bit brief, I know. Still, I would like to know after two bi-chapter episodes that I am not the only one that cares enough to prop up or to critique me…

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**Episode 2 - "New Underworld Order"**

_Central Date: September 12, 2007_

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_Part B_

"You're missing something vital about the whole reason I had you attack the child to draw the witch. That's because you're also missing something vital about their powers," Nomed explained to his two allies. "Most witches' powers are tied to their emotions. And what's the quickest way to frazzle the emotions of any decent mother, let alone a proud matriarch such as Piper?"

"Go after her child. I get it, but I don't understand why the strongest Charmed One," Ravvon quickly questioned.

"Because last week, two of your neo-ki kin attacked and almost killed her. And because there were no complaints from you about it three minutes. I was hoping similar results could come from you, but I guess you think you're incapable of such," Nomed responded a bit tauntingly. "Surely a more mature neo-ki demon than Dalia and Petrie, and a very advanced imp master, can do some worth of damage." Ravvon's eyebrows would perk up at that statement.

"Is that a challenge?" the mustached neo-ki inquired curiously.

"Sounds like it is, my friend, and it's one I'm willing to take up, personally," Axakentos commented instead, much to Ravvon's visible horror. "Besides, that, he's right. The witches will most definitely be off kilter. They will be expecting an attack on Chris, while the whole time, they will have been the only real objective."

"Have you even thought about anything else your great chief here may not be telling us?" Ravvon cautioned Axakentos, oblivious to Nomed's responsive chuckle.

"Yes… and I believe we can already head back to the safety of lower ground should such a thing ever become an issue," Axakentos replied, completely nonplussed by the issue which now had Ravvon completely hesitant. "Now, if you'd like to back out of this, then I have no problem with doing this alone, but if that's the case, then I won't share the spoils of a potential victory with you or your neo-ki kind."

Ravvon stood still with his head bowed, resigned to the point that Axakentos had made here. If neo-ki demons were going to rise from obscurity in the Underworld, then he would have to brave this through and destroy the Charmed Ones with Axakentos. If he returned with his tail between his legs, his kind would be regarded as cowards, and they would regard him as a coward. And considering the way the entire Underworld has been thoroughly weakened not only in numbers, but in resolve, over the years, he would be, essentially, a coward among cowards among cowards, essentially only worsening exactly what he'd taken up this mission to finally escape from.

Finally, he looked toward Axakentos and nodded, following which the imp master put a pseudo-comforting hand on his shoulder, and they walked off. With their backs turned and eventually gone from earshot, Nomed smiled; everything was coming to fruition just as he wanted it.

Paige had just arrived at the San Francisco Police Department building, and immediately started looking for Henry. Several of the cops turned to her and greeted her, to which she returned friendly waves and some hellos as well, but was most interested in finding her husband… or someone who could lead her to him. Which is exactly what she saw when the tall, dark, and sturdy black man in a blue suit was seen walking in her general direction.

"Paige, how are you?" the familiar man asked.

"Doing quite well, actually. I heard about the new returning cop that came in today,"

"Oh, he's talking with your husband," the man explained, quickly seeing her interest perk up. "They're a bit further down the hall." Paige leaned around him and indeed saw Henry talking with a very familiar-looking man who she could've sworn she'd seen before at a very important time in her life but couldn't wrap her finger around exactly when that was.

"Thanks, Durant. We should chat again sometime," Paige offered. Inspector Durant, who moved over from Chicago a couple of years ago, was one of Henry's closest friends on the force and commanded much respect from the other cops, as well as some of their wives and girlfriends, including Paige, who'd actually grown quite fond of talking with him herself. Respect and integrity oozed through the bones of this police detective. He was undoubtedly, truly, one of San Francisco's finest.

"Whenever you like. It's always a pleasure," Durant replied, before quickly patting her shoulder and walking by her. She then quickly went over to Henry and the other inspector.

"Hey, how's it going?" Paige greeted the two men, specifically her husband, who she came right towards and quickly enjoyed a peck on the lips with.

"Wow, you're pretty happy for someone who got…" Henry stopped himself in his tracks. He was about to mention the embarrassment Paige suffered at her job interview, but the realization he was about to say this in front of the other man, not to mention the death glare from his wife which thoroughly reinforced that, would cause him to forgo the rest of that sentence and clear his throat instead.

"Anyway, Paige, I'd like to introduce you to Inspector Cortez," he finished, introducing the cop. That's when she finally got a good look at him and was immediately racked with shock. The memory of when she'd seen him before came flooding back to her perfectly now. This was the same cop, the same Inspector Cortez, that had come to her and her then-boyfriend Shane asking questions after they'd been attacked by Shax at P³. The same one that had apparently been on the case about Prue, learned about her sisters' magic, and grown suspicious enough to come to the Manor with a camcorder and put himself right in the line of fire of the Source of All Evil. She hadn't seen him since that day over six years ago. He seemed to recognize her too, as the girl he talked to at the hospital that day, who he later came to find out was with the Halliwells around the same time they proved to him that they were truly good magic. The day he began his work in San Francisco, and the same day he quit it.

"Wait, so you guys actually know each other?" Henry deduced. This was enough to break the silence.

"Yeah, actually, we do. See, this is the same guy that investigated my sisters the same couple days I found out I was one of them," Paige explained, straight and to the point.

"What?" Henry asked in shock.

"Yeah, that would be me," Cortez replied. "As a matter of fact, I'd like your wife to come with me. We need to talk."

"Why? She hasn't done anything wrong," Henry questioned, quickly protective of his wife.

"Let's just say part of why I came back is that I was hoping to speak with the sisters again," Cortez explained. "And don't worry. Everything's good. Listen, I know something about Paige that she wouldn't tell most people, through that investigation. In fact, I learned it at about the same time she did. I bet she probably told you too, seeing how you're her husband. Believe me, I know it's good. So nothing is gonna happen to your wife. You have my word."

Henry pondered it for a second, and came to conclude that Cortez was honest and probably more of a help than he'd initially realized. In that spirit, he nodded in agreement, allowing Cortez to speak to his wife.

"Okay," Cortez said before turning to Paige. "Let's go." Cortez then walked off, presumably toward the exit, with Paige tentatively following.

After watching them leave for a few seconds, Henry turned around and went back into his office, where he had a strange feeling that perhaps he wasn't alone. He closed the door and slowly walked inside, and, discovering that his feeling was not exactly off, immediately recoiled defensively. Recollecting himself, he slowly approached the long blonde-haired man in the room, who was seated and leaning back against the wall in the corner. Before he could decide on a course of action to take with him, though, the man looked up and faced him and flashed a smile.

"So, Henry, I'm a bit curious; what's it like?" Derrick asked, alarming the tentative mortal standing above him, then took off his sunglasses. "What's it like knowing that your wife and one of her sisters almost died last week, and today seeing her run into an old face like Cortez?"

"Okay, who are you and what do you want with me?" Henry interrogated instinctively. He may have only been a parole officer, but he knew the basics of these matters. Quickly but calmly, the blonde raised a hand forward as to put him at ease, resulting in Henry taking a step back and allowing him to stand up.

"Maybe you should start being a little more thankful, or appreciative. Because I'm the guy… no, I'm the half-vampire, that saved your wife's neck last week," Derrick finally disclosed.

"Okay, so what? Did you come in here just to brag about the fact that you were able to save my wife and expect me to grovel or give her to you or something?" Henry quickly accused. Paige had vaguely told him of a bad experience with vampires, which combined with the entry from nowhere gave him reason to suspect this guy was up to no good.

"Actually, no. See, that would be pretty pointless," Derrick answered his question. "The real reason I came here was to give you a heads up."

"A heads up?" Henry repeated questioningly.

"Yeah, a heads up," Derrick reasserted. "See, I don't know exactly what's going on, but I just get a feeling there's something brewing down there in the land where evil lives. Which means the sisters and I are gonna be needing each other."

"How do you know?" Henry asked.

"Think about it, " Derrick appealed. "That same day, I was in Valhalla - you know, the place with the Valkyries? Before you ask, yes, they're real, and they're very attractive. Anyway, I was in Valhalla, and a demon attacked me. Of course, I killed him quickly, but that's not the point. The point is, something came after me, and something else came after the sisters, on the same day. I don't think the Underworld's gonna just stand pat or sit quietly for much longer. Just offering food for thought." With that, Derrick left in a sea of red orbs, leaving Henry confused on what to think. Moments later, though, Derrick would come back, this time dressed in his warrior coat and tights from the week before, which gave Henry a quick jolt of surprise.

"Oh, yeah, one last thing. Tell no one about this. I wanna be the one to introduce me," he said, before orbing away again.

Sometime shortly later, there was an ongoing phone conversation between somebody at the Manor and somebody at the Bay Mirror.

"Okay, well Chris wasn't hurt, was he?" Phoebe asked in concern over the phone, as Piper had called to tell her about the demon attack.

"No, but only because I got back in time. The creepy one in the suit, had his arms up and his hands were gong red," Piper explained.

"You can't be serious," Phoebe denied. Although she knew Piper couldn't kid about this, after what Nomed told her not too long ago about the uprising, this felt very disturbing to her and she was still trying to process it.

"Do I sound like I'm kiddin' here, missy?" Piper snipped. With that comment and the couple of seconds it gave her, the crushing realization came through Phoebe.

"Oh my god," in a very somber tone, was all the middle living sister could say in direct response.

"What? What is it? You can't go 'oh my god' like you just figured something really bad out and not tell me," Piper quickly inquired, knowing her sister's speech pattern and what it meant perfectly.

"Listen, I'm coming. I'll tell you when I get there. Stay safe. And tell Dad I said hi, okay?" Phoebe quickly said as she started organizing a few of her things on her desk.

"Alright, but you better get here quickly," Piper stated.

"Count on it. Love you. Bye!" Phoebe quickly stated, pressing "END" on her cell phone. She wasted no time in dialing another number, then pressing the phone back to her ear and waiting a few seconds. "Coop, Piper's in trouble. Chris was attacked. (pause) I know. Let me take care of the staff right away and you can come get me, okay? Good." She would lay the phone on the table, then walk go towards the door and open it.

"Okay, guys, I really wanna focus on my column right now, so I'm gonna have my door locked, and everyone, please - no interruptions!" she promptly announced to the rest of the newspaper team, to which generally all of them would nod and/or murmur their understanding. "Thanks." She smiled graciously, before going back inside, locking the door as she promised, and taking the phone back. "Okay, now you can come get me." Seconds later, Coop would fade by heart shine into the room, then repeat the process outbound seconds later.

Back in his spot in the Underworld, Nomed was facing an inverted pentagram carved onto a wall, which would be filled by a trail of flame that soon exploded into releasing what appeared to be someone, or something, coming packaged in large roll of flame. As said someone went to the ground, the flame would disappear, and he would slowly pick himself up off the ground. Looking around frantically between the place he was standing and his own hands, the dark-skinned demon was thoroughly dumbfounded as to how he could be sitting there, until he looked up in front of him and found a familiar face.

"Zohar, welcome back," Nomed greeted his old friend, who looked confused and somewhat upset at seeing him there.

"What's going on?" Zohar questioned as he stood up and approached his old comrade. "How'd you bring me back here? And why'd you do it, too?"

"Relax. I just decided to do an old friend a favor, that's all," Nomed casually replied, knowing Zohar didn't believe him.

"Favor? Are you kidding me? If it wasn't for you throwing me in front of the Charmed Ones while they were possessed by the Hollow, I wouldn't have been dead in the first place," Zohar objected to his old partner's disingenuous claim of charity. "No; there's gotta be something more to this, isn't there?"

"Actually, you're right," Nomed admitted. "I didn't bring you back just to chat and reminisce on old times. I brought you back because the movement is beginning. Our time is beginning to rise. And I need you… to do something for me."

"Which is…?" Zohar left open.

"I have one of those tonic experiment demons, the neo-ki ones, set up to attack the Charmed Ones with our old imp master friend. You remember; Fabian Axakentos?" Nomed started, waiting for Zohar's nod at the sound of that name. "Axakentos and neo-ki Ravvon are going to attack the Charmed Ones soon, and I need someone to spy on them. I have a feeling "

"Spy on them? Are you serious? They'll catch me, and then I'll be killed again,"

"Actually, I have something that should help you take care of that," Nomed stated, raising his right hand and the cup in it so Zohar could see the cup in it. "This tonic was formed from the ashes of Klea, from the Brotherhood of the Thorn. One of her powers was a kind of voyeurism ability. Drink it and it will do you much good, my friend." He offered him the drink. Tentatively, Zohar decided to reach out and take it.

"Oh, and as for sacrificing you; I knew you'd attack the Charmed Ones in an effort to defend yourself," he explained, while Zohar drank from the tonic. "And the Jenkins sisters had borrowed power directly from the Twice-Blessed Child. If they were in any way close to equaling the Charmed Ones in power before taking in Wyatt's powers and the Hollow… well, then, I needed to toss in something to make sure they didn't surpass them." He paused for a couple of seconds. "Sorry." Zohar proceed to shimmer out, except for his eyes, which stuck around glaringly at Nomed for a couple of seconds before vanishing as well. Nomed breathed a sigh of relief.

"Believe me, I was too ashamed to face any of you guys after what I did, especially Morris," Cortez explained to Paige just outside the doors of SFPD. "I couldn't stick around after that."

"Hey, you almost did your job too well. I almost turned evil on them," Paige interjected in his defense.

"You don't understand. I dishonored my family," Cortez replied. "I lost a sister ten years ago. She was killed by the sort of sick people that could pass for demons. And here I was, trying to pave a road to jail for some of the only people who could really stop demons like that by accusing them of killing their late sister. Even if Morris could accept my apology, I screwed up too big to face him again."

"Okay, so then why'd you decide now that it was time to come back? Is it because he's gone to Atlanta?" Paige inquired.

"No, I'm not that cheap," Cortez quipped, to which she chuckled. "It actually goes deeper than that. A couple of my best friends on the force in San Diego got caught up in drug corruption. I tried to get them to stop, but they saw easy money and they didn't care about the fact they were putting innocent kids and people in jail. I was disgusted, so I quit the place and I told them to kiss my ass. I've been applying for months in other cities in the state, but the only job I was offered beyond security detail openly encouraged putting numbers behind bars, so I left that job too. Finally, I chose to come back here, because I knew the captain was someone I could trust, and if I had to do a lot of apologizing to be around honest people again, then so be it. Morris being gone had nothing to do with it. In fact, I was looking forward to seeing him again."

"Oh, okay. Well, then let's hope this time you can actually stick aro…" Paige stopped when the beep of her phone interrupted her. She took it out and opened it and saw a text message from Phoebe, which raid 'COC. Manor.' The COC was the family's new personal version of SOS, something Billie and Phoebe had had time to come up with in case of magical emergencies. "It's Phoebe… okay, I'm sorry, Cortez, but I've gotta go."

"It's okay. I've gotta get ready for a cops' briefing in a few minutes anyway," Cortez excused, walking back towards the entrance doors. "Catch up with you later, Paige. I'll tell Mitchell you said bye."

"Thanks," Paige acknowledged, as she walked the other way, making sure to pay attention for the door behind her. Once she heard it open and close, looked around, and saw nobody watching, she felt comfortable in orbing out of the area.

Elsewhere, Keith and Billie were now driving around in a black Infiniti with windows tinted which was apparently his car. More accurately, Keith was driving and Billie was checking her cell phone. She saw on her cell phone the same 'COC. Manor.' text message that Paige did on her phone, and knew immediately that she had to leave.

"Okay. Keith, stop the car now. There's something in the trunk," Billie instructed him out of nowhere.

"What?" Keith questioned.

"Trust me. There's something there. You've gotta check it out," Billie prodded. After looking at her and seeing the serious expression on her face, he gave in and stopped the car at the side of the road next to an apartment complex, before leaving and going back to the trunk. Sighing in relief that it worked, she closed her eyes and used her thoughts to try to project herself back at the Manor.

"Billie, I checked. There's nothing in the…" Keith stated a few seconds later, stopping when he opened the driver door and looking shocked at what he saw: Billie. Distorted like she was in the middle of a motion blur. Then disappearing in thin air. He only had one word to describe what h e saw. "Whoa."

When Billie arrived at the Manor, she found herself projected into the sun room, where not only the sisters, but Leo and Victor Bennett were there as well. Phoebe, Paige, and Victor had each found themselves a seat, while Leo stood protectively with Chris by his side and Piper had the Book of Shadows and the scrying gem and map on a table/

"Guys, what happened?" Billie asked.

"Demons attacked Chris. One of them was the same kind as the ones that got you last week," Piper explained without turning around.

"And the other one?" Billie asked.

"Not sure, but I do know he calls himself Axakentos and his hands were shining red," Piper commented.

"Hand went red… wait, what if it's actually imp master?" Billie suggested, remembering an incident she had with such a being a long time ago.

"It could be a darklighter too, though," Leo pointed out. "The hands going red might be the touch of death."

"They can't go after Wyatt at school, right?" Victor asked uneasily, a bit afraid and protective of his grandson.

"No, that would be disastrous for them. It's a public place. Attacking him there would mean exposure," Leo answered.

"Yeah, but last time this 'exposure' thing happened, they got to kill Prue because of it, didn't they?" Victor pointed out.

"True, but they lost their best time sorcerer in the process," Leo counter-reasoned. Suddenly, the gem started spinning very quickly, and would lock on at the Manor's place on the map, which all three sisters saw and were very alarmed by.

"They're here," Phoebe stated. No sooner did the words leave her lips than the two demons suddenly shimmered in. Leo immediately took Chris and swirled away in white star-like orbs, presumably towards Magic School.

"Oh god, this guy looks freaky," Paige exclaimed at the sight of the intense eyes of Axakentos. However, before they knew what was going on, his right hand was going red, and as he swung it in the general way of the group, a swarm of imps came pouring out of it and going in all directions. Billie, having anticipated that he was an imp master, and Piper, on the warpath after the threat on her son, were the only ones with steeled rather than alarmed gazes at first, but even this would subside as several dozen imps came flying at her face, same as all the others. Several imps had even gone after Victor, but Piper used her combustion power to blow most of them up before they ever got to him, and the others joined the line in going after. Ravvon, not even needing to do anything, could only laugh at the torture the girls were going through, being snipped and gashed constantly for seconds by Axakentos' growing swarm. This was until somebody threw a burning liquid from behind at them which seared both enemies' backs and forced them to scream in pain while vanishing in flames.

…and reappearing in those same flames and with those same screams up in the attic. Only one person had seen the savior; Victor, the only one who right now who wasn't favoring many small cuts and various injuries, saw the warrior-looking blonde in the coat and tights. However, frozen in shock, fear, and panic for the safety of his daughters, he couldn't venture a single word. Noticing Victor looking at him from afar, Derrick turned to the middle-aged man and put a finger up to his lips, in so little words asking him to keep his presence a secret. Then, the screams of Ravvon and Axakentos could be heard from the attic. Muttering the word "crap" to himself, Derrick red-orbed out of here… at the same time as Jonas orbed into the room with Leo and Chris. Victor's only reaction was to faint in his chair.

"Victor!" Leo immediately called out, noticing the man's faint and quickly tending to him.

"He will be fine," Jonas assured him, before going down and beginning to heal the others, beginning first with Leo's wife.

Upstairs, the two demons had stopped screaming, and started to looking around frantically at where they were.

"Where the hell are we?" Ravvon asked caustically.

"It looks like we're still in the manor. What room, though, I'm not sure," Axakentos replied, just before catching his eyes on the Book of Shadows. The half-vampire warrior would orb into the room before they could do anything, however. Ravvon, sensing this, would quickly turn around and unleash a ki blow at Derrick, but the Double-Edged Blonde was able to orb away and reappear behind them. After drawing and letting loose a quick large breath, the spears would spontaneously appear out of the shoulders of his trench coat and stab through both men in the chest. Only one would end up killed, however - that would be Ravvon. Axakentos' entire upper body would be protected by a coating of red with unstable flashes of yellow moving and exploding through it. As the spears left the chests, one was soaked with blood - the one on the left, whose victim, Ravvon, was screaming again and this time his flame burst was more explosive, indicative of a vanquish - while the other barely had a few drops on it. As the spears receded back into the coat, Derrick looked slightly intoxicated by the material, but not as much as last week, obviously due to the lesser amount of blood. Much to his chagrin, Axakentos seemed perfectly fine.

"Wait, how's that possible? That wasn't nearly as much as I should've gotten out of you," Derrick admitted in complete shock.

"Oh, my. You had to go and kill my mark, didn't you?" Axakentos sarcastically chastised the hybrid, showing clear lack of care about Ravvon in the least, before he suddenly left via a crimson apparition. After just laying in here and looking extremely perplexed for about a minute, Derrick finally shook himself out of it and decided to head back downstairs. The others were still all in the sun room, and a black man in a robed suit was just though healing the last of them - Victor, who had apparently had a heart attack he must not have seen. Somehow, Leo seemed to recognize that there was someone there, but by the time he looked in Derrick's direction, he was already orbing away. Leo was shocked into a practical trance at the sight of the crimson orbs.

"Leo, are you okay?" Piper asked, momentarily concerned for her husband's distracted state.

"Oh. Oh, yeah," Leo said, recollecting himself. They were all blissfully unaware of the two mysterious eyes that were watching them right now…

…which shimmered away and found their way to Nomed's location in the Underworld. Zohar reappeared in full visibility through another shimmer as soon as Nomed turned to face him.

"Well?" Nomed gave him the floor.

"Axakentos is still alive, but the neo-ki one's been vanquished," Zohar reported.

"How'd that happen? Did the Charmed Ones-"

"No. It wasn't them. The element of surprise left him with a great advantage at first, but then a blonde warrior appeared and intervened," Zohar continued his report.

"Blonde warrior?" Nomed repeated in inquiry.

"Yeah. He was wearing a strange suit of armor with magical spears hidden inside. Axakentos was able to use his imps to shield himself from harm, but the neo-ki wasn't so lucky," Zohar explained. "Still need me for something, or was that it?" Zohar asked.

"No, you can go ahead. I'll get more of the tonic prepared in case you're needed to try this again," Nomed stated. "Pleasure doing business, old friend." Zohar nodded with a small appreciative smile, seemingly indicating to his revolutionary old friend that he'd won him back over, before shimmering away.

"That's it. We're almost in…" Nomed remarked to no one in particular as he turned back around again, or at least to no one that was there in person at the moment…

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NOTE: I'm starting to see the things that I need to work on in order to help this thing flow better in the future. However, peeps… I need your thoughts! Please, folks, come on. You gotta help me out here.

-Pac.


	5. Ep3: It's a Double Edged Sword

_**Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils**_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Show and cast disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, and co., as are all characters and pieces of the storyline previously depicted on the show. Characters created by either myself or a friend of mine who for all intents and purposes we will call Blacksheep Noble will be depicted with an asterisk in "casting" credits in the first episode they appear. Preexisting characters whose names I devise will have their in-show identities placed within dashes for their first appearance in this story. Regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either were and/or would be portrayed by actual specific human beings, each with at least an iota of believable acting ability, each owned by self, and none having actually acted the events introduced by this story. And last but not least, I own none of the suggested episode music, either. *sigh*. There, hope that covers it.

Rated: T for Teen

Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."

NOTE: Not exact a long haul between updates this time, but still longer than I thought. And still no reviews… come on, folks!

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**Episode 3 - "It's a Double-Edged Sword"**

_Central Date: September 26, 2007_

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_Part A_

At his usual location, Nomed sat calm and collected, as if either reflecting or waiting for someone. The truth, actually, would be both. Things were looking up now, as the plan was starting to come to fruition. They never suspected a thing, not even that he was involved in any sort of shady activity. Which was surprising, considering he was a demon and the only reason he'd ever worked with them was stopping the Triad. Before he could go any further, he noticed a swarm of black particle balls appearing to his side and forming into another demon, one with black mid-long wavy hair, very dark eyes, and a clean yet serious-looking visage which appeared a couple of years older than his own.

"Kentman," Nomed recognized him. "So, where'd you put the grimoire?"

"Don't worry, I've hid it away exactly where you suggested," Kentman reported to his associate. "Did any useful information come in from your friend Zohar?"

"Yes, actually. It seems the Charmed Ones have been receiving a bit of help. Everything is playing out exactly as we anticipated," Nomed explained confidently. "Have you found our latest contact of interest?"

"That I have," Kentman replied. "They should be arriving in a few minutes."

"Perfect. It's imperative that we bring this one in. He's one of the best and brightest among our generation of demons. His creativity and vision could very well inspire great things to come," Nomed stated, speaking proudly of someone as a small hint of a smile began to grace his features as well as Kentman's. Just then, via crimson apparition, Fabian Axakentos would appear before the two partners. "Have at it, friends." Nomed bade before shimmering off, as Axakentos' eerie stare found Kentman.

"I hope you have a plan for me. Seeing how my mark is dead," Axakentos bluntly warned. Of course, he didn't necessarily feel any remorse for Ravvon's death, but the situation as it stood right now less to his personal comfort than he expected it to be.

"If your ally was as worthless as I thought, I don't see why you're not celebrating. Unless most if not all of your kind, you don't even need him to teleport, much less anything aside from making up numbers," Kentman commented.

"That's true. But that's also the question. Who will make up the numbers now?" Axakentos asked. Just after his question came, three demons flaming in followed suit. One was a very dark-skinned round-headed black male with a low haircut and dressed in a dark suit whose physical age appeared in his early 30s, with a short white 20-something-looking female with long curly dark brown hair under his arm, who wore a black low V-neck dress which went down to about her knees, along with a golden neckband and long heeled boots. The third was another dark-haired woman, who appeared no older but was easily taller and tougher-looking than the one closer to the demonic male and had a much more standoffish expression than both of her compatriots. She sported a gray form-fitting tank top with a black strapless top underneath and black leather pants.

"So, I assume these are my new marks?" Axakentos replied, earning derisive glares from all three of the new demons.

"Not exactly. See, Trixoll here," Kentman gestured toward the male, "is an investor. But, not the kind that people usually know of. See, he secures homes and businesses to harbor demons in the upper world. About four years ago he aided a clever old one in making a coup at a qiote reputable auction house. To this day, the man's employees still suspect nothing, and neither does Trixoll's wife, a human woman." The male demon identified as Trixoll proudly chuckled and smiled in response to the praise. "As for his…" Kemtman paused to looked at the woman under Trixoll's arm with a look of dull disfavor, "…arm candy here, called Ramita, I still wonder how she feels shacking up with a married man."

"Well, if you must know, Kentman, you said it yourself. His wife is as unsuspecting as ever," the lady addressesd as Ramita proudly proclaimed, grinning giddily and making a light scratching motion with her left arm, which revealed that she had the claws of a harpy.

"And what does that have to do with my attack on the Charmed Ones?" Axakentos asked, staying right on the point that directly affected him.

"Well, you know, you could ask that question a little more directly," the demon identified as Trixoll interjected. "And to be honest, we didn't actually come here just to help you out. But, we can make a bit of a compromise." He then turned to his and Ramita's third wheel. "Quesanne? Get ready to move."

This brought a small smile to the taller demon woman's features. However, little did they realize, there were being watched by some kind of black-haired woman who was leaning around the wall listening in on the conversation. Satisfied with her information, the woman leaned back away, certain that she had gotten all she needed from that, before standing upright. She was no taller than Ramita, but certainly not abashed, as she left in a crimson sea of orbs.

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Principal Cast (Main Credits): Alter Bridge - "Open Your Eyes (Charmed Edge Army Mix)"

::Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell-Wyatt

::Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell

::Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews

::Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt

::Adam "Edge" Copeland as Derrick Serkan Brady

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City Scope Theme: Thirteen Senses - "Into the Fire"

::Lucy Liu as Anya Deline / Anyankos*

::Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins

::Victor Webster as Coop

::Jason & Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt Matthew Halliwell

::Sammy Jack as Christopher (Chris) Perry Halliwell

::Ivan Sergei as Henry Mitchell

::Randy Orton as Keith Wilson Shard

::Rik Young as Nomed

::Shane Brolly as the Kentman*

:Michael Emerson as Fabian Axakentos

:Sean Patrick Thomas as Trixoll Holmes*

:Tanya Memme as Ramita*

:Monique Ganderton as Quesanne*

:James Read as Victor Bennett

:Yancey Arias as Cortez

:Audra McDonald as Debbie Holmes*

:Donn Swaby as Zohar

:Austin Highsmith as Caroline*

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"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second. What did you say his name was?" Victor asked as he rode with Paige in her car. She was explaining to him that today they were going to be meeting the police inspector that she'd caught up with a short time ago.

"It's Cortez," Paige explained.

"Oh, right, that guy," Victor recalled with a grim tone about it.

"You don't seem too happy about it," Paige stated the obvious. After looking at her for a moment, Victor sighed heavily.

"Paige, it's just that… I don't know if I could trust another cop around you guys often," Victor admitted. "I mean, let's take a look at how famously they've gotten along with this family so far, the biggest exception being your husband, of course. They're always trying to blackmail you, bust you, or use you for their own ends. Before Henry, there was only cop I remember that actually knew about your magic and cared about you as people more than he cared about his own goals. And the man who tried to put my daughters in jail and accused them of killing their big sister, is certainly not who I'm talking about."

"Which is why I'm bringing you, Victor. Because I'm trying to be careful about all this even though this guy knows our secret," Paige responded. "I mean, I wanna see if we can trust him like we trusted Darryl, because from what he told me, he left because he was ashamed of what he almost did to us."

"Well, that's a start. But he and I are certainly not gonna become best buds overnight," Victor stated, being ever so cautious. "I'd also watch out for that blond guy. You know, the vampire you were talking about?"

"Believe me. I'm aware," Paige assured him.

"Okay. I'm just making sure you're staying careful," Victor advised.

"Thanks," Paige acknowledged as they neared the manor at last, then turned to pull into the driveway, and finally stopped the car right behind Piper's.

Only a few seconds later would they be jolted to alert, though, because as they stepped out and made their way over to the front door, they could hear the sound of Piper yelping and some thing breaking inside.

"Piper? Piper!" Paige shouted in concern, but soon realized her sister was in no way to respond. "Shoot! We've gotta go around the back. If I tried to orb in, somebody would see us. Come on!" She led her father as the two began to run around the house, oblivious to the car that just pulled up in front of the house.

Inside, Piper was under attack by the imp master Axakentos, along with Kentman and Quesanne, the latter of whom had just broken the wall in the sun room with a light dark. Piper, barely able to sidestep the blast, was now backed into the sun room by her three tormentors.

"Okay, that's it! This is ridiculous! Who the hell are you two!" Piper demanded.

"You don't get to know that," the less unsettling-looking of the two males replied.

"Fine, then you get to die!" Piper shouted with determination, quickly using her power to attempt to blow up the male who refused to tell her who he was, but only managed to have him staggering back a few feet, and was not allowed to go for a second shot because the tall female quickly took advantage by running towards her and knocking her to the ground with a spinning kick to her midsection.

"Well, it looks like I've finally got you, Charmed One," Axakentos boasted, as he raised his right arm and it began to glow that familiar glow which said "imps are coming". Piper saw out of the corner of her eye that a bright reddish light which gave off the appears of orbs briefly shone a few feet behind her assailants, but Axakentos and the other demons were blind to this, so they interpreted the surprised and alert expression that came over her face as a look of fear, as if she was scared of their assault. This left them oblivious and totally caught off guard when all three of them, one by one, were sent flying into the corner of the room. Piper's rescuer quickly rushed towards her and reached her hand out to help Piper up. Tentatively, she accepted the woman's helping hand.

"Thanks for the lift, but who are you?" Piper asked, just as the door was suddenly kicked open, startling them all.

"Freeze! Police!" Inspector Cortez cried as he ran through the house with his pistol unholstered, ready to pull the trigger on whatever intruder was here. But then he noticed the lady standing alarmed next to Piper, and immediately froze in shock.

"My God…" was all he could say. For he knew this woman, and if he had to be frank, he wished he didn't.

" 'My God' is right!" Piper suddenly yelled as she became wrought with outrage at the incredulity of the entire situation. "Inspector, I understand you wanted to meet with us, especially since you know our secret and Paige told me you'd be coming, but in case you didn't get the memo, this is a really bad time! And what the hell are you doing here with that gun!"

"What, you think I was gonna come here and not expect some demon to attack? Based on the commotion, I can see that I was right to come armed," Cortez quickly retorted. "The real question is what the hell is she doing here!" He referred to the woman next to Anya.

"I don't know, you'd have to ask her! She just came in here and helped me take out the demons that were trying to jump me for the third time in two weeks!" Piper

"What!" Cortez exclaimed in shock, absolutely amazed to learn that the other woman apparently had powers as well.

"Cortez, stop it! She doesn't even know who I am!" the other woman finally interjected her way into the conversation.

"Well, then I think it's better if we keep it that way, don't you!" Cortez threatened, pointing the gun at the woman for emphasis.

"Hey, put that thing down already, you lunatic!" Piper berated Cortez, but to no avail.

"You think I would've taken out those demons if I was gonna hurt Piper? She's fine! Trust me!" the rescuer insisted.

"Don't sell me that crap, lady," the inspector promptly cut her off. "You've given me lots of problems in San Diego for the last three years. I come back to work here in San Francisco, I'm paying a visit to the Halliwells, and who do I see here but you? Not only that, I'm finding out that you've got some kind of magical powers yourself, and I'm supposed to believe that you're not gonna hurt the sisters?" In his tirade, and in the general arugment, he and the girls were all too oblivious to either Paige orbing in or the three demons picking themselves up out of the corner. "Uh-uh. Get your butt outta here, Anya. Now."

"Quit arguing, you idiots! Demon trinity getting up!" Paige screamed while pointing to the three demons who were rising to their feet, finally getting both Piper and the mysterious Anya's attention, as well as that of Cortez, who tried to come closer in the hopes that he could do something.

"No!" Anya shouted, as a wall of flame quickly appeared between Cortez and the sun room, stopping the inspector in his tracks. "Stay, back! That gun of yours isn't worth a penny against real demons!" Just at that point, the less scary-looking male demon slowly extended his arms forward with a focused expression on his face. Paige's eyes went wide as she, the only person paying attention, knew that there was some attack brewing from this.

"Look out!" Paige shouted just in the nick of time, as a swarm of tiny golf ball sized black particles started coming towards Piper. Luckily, Anya swiftly tackled her to the ground to get her out of harm's way, leaving only the wall to take the damage.

"Hey, a little warning would be nice!" Piper screamed.

"Sorry," Anya quickly apologized as she got off of Piper, allowing both women to get back up.

"Nice to see you again, Anya," Kentman noted, causing the woman addressed to turn to him with a deep glare.

"Hold on a second. You know this guy?" Paige questioned, unaware of the irony that she didn't even know the woman she was asking that question.

"Running into this guy's become an everyday thing for me," Anya explained. "He's the Kentman, and trust me; he's not a nice guy."

"I could see that," Piper retorted heavily.

"Looks like you've finally decided to seek out the Charmed Ones," the Kentman observed keenly, the death glare Anya sent him only becoming worse. "Fat lot of good that'll do, because obviously, as you can see, I've got some new friends as well. It seems this thing over between you and I until one of us is finally destroyed."

"Well, this throws a bit of a curveball into things," Axakentos remarked, voicing the thoughts of several members on both sides. "Guess that makes it your lucky day again, Charmed One." Off that statement, all three of the enemy demons departed the scene; Axakentos by red apparition, Kentman in a sea of black particle balls, and Quesanne via smoking. Anya breathed a sigh of relief before finally turning and waving away the flame construct wall, allowing Cortez to join them in the room.

"Okay, you, have got a TON of explaining to do for this one, Deline," Cortez started back up again, directing his rant straight at Anya.

"Cool it, Cortez! Jeez," Paige admonished him, then stood pat until she was sure she had all their attention. "Okay, guys, gimme a second."

"What are you talking about?" Piper asked, but to no avail; before she even got a word out, Paige was already headed for the back doors, and opened one of them and stepped out.

"Hey, it's okay to come out now," she was heard saying from out there. Seconds later, she was walk back in, but she wouldn't be alone, much to Piper's surprise.

"Dad?" the eldest Charmed One mouthed in recognition. Victor, caught in such relief that she was fine, gave off a hearty chuckle, quickly came over, and hugged his daughter. She happily returned the embrace despite the fact that his being here right now only added to the complete chaos that had enveloped this place and her life in general right about now. After breaking the hug, the grey-haired grandpa caught notice of the strange Asian-looking woman standing there with himself, Piper, Paige, and Inspector Cortez.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Who's this?" Victor stated, gesturing towards the unfamiliar figure in the room.

"Actually, we're still trying to figure that part out," Piper answered.

"Wait, what?" Phoebe asked in her office at the Bay Mirror. She was currently being distracted by a phone call that started about a minute ago.

"I don't know what's going on with him. It's just really strange," Billie remarked, holding the other side of this phone conversation from her dorm room. "I mean, it's bad enough he had trouble returning my calls, which actually I can live with, because like he said, he never answers his phone. But usually, he'll at least call me once a day to see how I'm doing. He's only called me three times in the last two weeks, he still never answers my calls, and I haven't seen him since Sunday. What do I do?"

"I think, maybe, you should let him know that you care about him and you wanna know what's going on with him, but also don't try to force or pressure him into anything," Phoebe advised with great care.

"I figured you'd say something like that, Phoebe, but come on! I need some help figuring out how!" Billie pleaded with her, desperate for some answer. "I mean, how do you do it with Coop? When you guys have an issue like this and you feel like you need to talk it out with each other, what do you do?"

Phoebe chuckled with contentment at Billie's inquiry for more than one reason. For one thing, she knew a lot about love, hence her job as an advice columnist, and this kind of question being asked while she was in her office went right up her alley. Aside from that, this probably ranked very high among the closest moments Billie and Phoebe had shared since the whole fallout of the situation surrounding Christy. Truthfully, she missed being able to talk to the prodigal blonde like this on a more regular basis.

Unfortunately, this wouldn't be able to continue much longer, as her phone beeped, and a look at why would reveal someone else calling on another line.

"Billie, can I call you back? Piper's on right now," Phoebe requested, only for the sigh that she heard on the other side to break her heart in regret.

"Yeah, sure," Billie excused with clear reluctance in her voice.

"Okay. We'll talk soon. Bye," Phoebe assured her, before pressing the corresponding buttons to answer Piper's call and holding the phone back up to her ear again. "Piper, what's going on?"

"Doing peachy keen!" Piper announced overly chipper, which usually spelled trouble. "Well, if you count out the fact that our imp master friend Axakentos decided to come back yet again, this time with two friends to try to trap me, then some new girl came in the house and saved me, Inspector Cortez came barreling in with a gun at the first sign of danger, the new girl knows both Cortez and one of Axakentos' new friends, and this all happened right as Paige brought Dad here!"

"No. Absolutely not, Piper, this is ridiculous," Phoebe quickly said as if she was denying or declining something.

"Come again, sis?" Piper questioned, confusd as to what her sister was trying to say.

"Multiple demon attacks this past month, including one on frickin' Chris. New and old faces popping up supposedly trying to be our friends. Throw in that message Nomed threw me about a new demon uprising in the Underworld, what do you think it means?" Phoebe asked rhetorically. "I don't know about you, but I'm not about to abandon everything I've ever worked for to go off into hunting for every Ted, Loki, and Ahab in San Francisco week after week again."

"Hold on a second. What are you saying?" Piper asked louder as her disbelief and frustration mounted with Phoebe's protest.

"Piper, I'm saying no!" Phoebe shouted. "I'm not coming, not right now. I have one really thought-provoking question left to finish answering in my column, and Billie finally called me for help for the first time in months because Keith's been ducking her lately. I can't stop to deal with demons everyday again, especially not right now. If you want me to be over there, you're gonna have to wait until my work day is done and you've picked up Wyatt and Chris from school, and that's final. I'm sorry."

"Phoebe, don't you hang up o…" Piper suddenly stopped her retort to Phoebe's rant, as she heard her sister hang up on the other side. "…damnit!"

"What happened?" Cortez asked, a bit concerned about this predicament.

"She's not coming, is she?" Victor guessed. Piper shook her head in response, which he heavily sighed upon seeing. He honestly didn't blame Phoebe for not coming this time; in the old days, back when demons used to constantly attack, Phoebe had had to lose and struggle so much. They all did. Anyone who was able to walk away from such hell would shudder at the thought of going back to it, which was certainly the road things seemed to be going nowadays. Truth be told, he didn't know how he was still conscious, considering what had happened to him last time he was here. He still hadn't completely gotten the image from two weeks ago out of his head, of his daughters being pricked apart by little red bat-like imps right in front of him. Part of him, his protective instinct as a father, was actually glad Phoebe wasn't rushing here. Piper, however, needed help.

"Okay, this is It. I don't know what's going on at Magic School, but I need my husband right now," Piper stated in a determined tone which clearly told that she was dead set on bringing him here.

"Yeah, but Leo's at Magic School right now. I'm not so sure I wanna drag him out of there when his Elder friend's in charge," Paige pointed out.

"Well, then that's who's gonna drag him out of there. Jonas, I know you can hear me from your comfy little dean's office, and I need you to tell Leo to come home right now!" Piper shouted up to the sky without warning, as if expecting Jonas to hear her. Which, considering the others had to quickly cover their ears to avoid going temporarily deaf, was not exactly a stretch.

Derrick stood in the middle of a location in the Underworld that appeared to be just about completely trashed. There was so much material laying around strewn about and broken into pieces the place looked like it had been rammed through by a small tornado. He looked around and saw the pieces of what appeared to be drawer chests, the tables seemingly broken through. The cups and containers of various material that were on the ground, no doubt formerly host to several types of tonics. Not to mention there was a small fraction of a large circular pot that was actually still standing, with some drops of a whitish liquid still on the edges. Looking around this place felt very surreal to him, as he appeared clearly awestruck by it all.

"Wow. If it weren't for them getting to her, I wouldn't believe this place was so beat-up," he stated, resting a hand on the standing edge of the last remnants of the pot as he gave a regretful sigh. "Really makes everything just… hit home." After all this time, he still had a hard time coming to grips with what happened here; what happened to her. "Wow…"

"Listen to me, Jonas! I know you've been playing nice with my husband lately so we can actually tolerate seeing your face, unlike the rest of your kind, but if you really give a crap about this family, you will bring Leo out of his class and tell him to come home right now!"

He was completely shaken in shock that he actually heard that message. He didn't understand how it was possible. But he did know exactly who would say this. Piper Halliwell. And that meant the Charmed Ones needed help fast.

"Now that's just awesome," he commented sardonically, before orbing away.

"Jeez, Piper, you don't have to make everyone's ears bleed just to call your husband," Cortez quipped, still holding his ears as were the rest of the others while at the same time earning a dirty look from Piper. Almost immediately thereafter, a swirl of white stars start to materialize in the room besides Piper, taking the others' attention and eventually forming into Leo.

"Thank God," Piper said to no one in particular as she quickly rushed over and hugged her husband.

"Piper, what's going on?" Leo asked in concern, seeing his that she wasn't exactly being her usual self. No sooner did he say this, though, than the presence of red orbs entered the room and formed into Derrick.

"Maybe I can help," the blonde offered, much to the shocked and/or faces of all the others in the room.

"That's the one," Leo, Paige, and Victor all said simultaneously. Piper, Anya, and Cortez wound up looking across at all the others in the room, the latter two totally confused while Piper knew all along what this meant.

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NOTE: Let's hope my buddy Blacksheep likes the way I introduced Anya to this whole picture. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, please, don't forget to comment! There's this link next to this beautiful yellow quote bubble that allows you to do that… it's really encouraging, trust me.

-Pac.


	6. Ep3, PtB

_**Charmed: Season of the Risen Devils**_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Show and cast disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, and co., as are all characters and pieces of the storyline previously depicted on the show. Characters created by either myself or a friend of mine who for all intents and purposes we will call Blacksheep Noble will be depicted with an asterisk in "casting" credits in the first episode they appear. Preexisting characters whose names I devise will have their in-show identities placed within dashes for their first appearance in this story. Regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either were and/or would be portrayed by actual specific human beings, each with at least an iota of believable acting ability, each owned by self, and none having actually acted the events introduced by this story. And last but not least, I own none of the suggested episode music, either. *sigh*. There, hope that covers it.

Rated: T for Teen

Summary: "One would think that the future was set in stone after the vanquish of the Ultimate Power, but clearly that isn't the case. That view is long overlooking a dangerous threat capable of ending it all… as well as salvation from the unlikeliest of sources."

NOTE: Nothing more to add at the moment. Except for one thing. I give up on limiting chapters to six pages on my Word Processor. Seriously.

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**Episode 3 - "It's a Double-Edged Sword"**

_Central Date: September 26, 2007_

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_Part B_

"Alright, this… this is just too much for me to deal with at one time!" Piper snapped, having about enough of all the rampant new appearances. "You specifically," she turned to Derrick, "other than your name, which I'm still hazy on, I know two things about you. One; you're half-vampire, which is bad. Two; you've saved us twice this months, which is good. So I'm not sure which side of the fence you're on, but unless you want me to start shooting to vanquish you, you're gonna tell us everything we need to know about why you're here now!"

"You know, that's just great. I've saved your butts, I'm offering to help, I told you what I am up front, and now I have to answer some questions so you won't blow me up. Real nice. Thanks, Piper," Derrick quickly complained.

"Okay, then who do you think should start answering questions now? Us? We're not the ones sneaking into Henry's office just to give him a vague heads-up," Paige reminded him, making clear that her husband had told her of their encounter.

"No, you see, I knew all of you would get that heads-up, because you guys are like a network, you tell each other everything," Derrick remarked.

"Yeah, that's what's called a family. Not sure if you know anything about that," Anya retorted.

"And you, who the hell are you?" Derrick asked her in quick retort, which had Paige slightly taken back in surprise. "Matter of fact, I think you're the one who needs to answer questions."

"Yeah, I think you do," Cortez added quickly, joining Derrick's side as soon as the question came to Anya. He had no idea of her secrets until a few minutes ago, and he wanted to know how far those secrets went.

"Okay, can you stop being a cop for one minute?" Victor quickly questioned the inspector.

"Guys, stop it! That's enough!" Leo finally screamed above the entire room, managing to quiet down the out-of-control scene for what seemed like the first time in a long while. "Great, now are we all calmed down?" Only silence and a few nods followed, much to his satisfaction. "Good. Now… Derrick, right? Derrick Brady, that's your name?"

"Yeah," Derrick replied curtly, not wanting to go through the part about his demonic middle name, which he'd already told Paige and so could easily be skimmed through.

"Piper's right. You may have helped us out lately, but you still just came out of nowhere," Leo went on, to the backing of an indignant "Ha!" from his wife. "So we're still gonna need some answers."

"Good. I'm gonna be at P³ tonight, so you can get your answers then,"

"Why not now?" Victor questioned.

"Because now, we seem to have a problem to take care of. And I'd like to see what I can do about it," Derrick offered in response.

Back in her dorm room, Billie, having thought about her situation with Keith, felt like she still needed some serious help in sorting it, and since Phoebe wasn't able to give it to her at the moment thanks to her sisters, she felt like going to the next best person for the job. She locked her door, checked her windows, and did the old pillows under the bed trick, before quickly closing her eyes and projecting herself to find _him_. Her projection power took her through in a motion blur and landed her outside, to which she looked around and found that she was mired in bushes near a large apartment building.

"Okay, now where is he?" she quickly asked herself, looking around until she realized she saw him walking past her. She then stepped out of the bushes and rushed over to greet him. "Hey!"

And that's when Coop turned around, and a smile came on Billie's face as he locked eyes with him.

"Billie!" Coop exclaimed, smiling himself but unable to mask his surprise at her presence. "What are you doing here? I mean, what's going on?"

"Well, I don't know if Phoebe told you about my situation with Keith yet, but I kinda need your help," Billie explained. Immediately Coop's eyes shone, as he completely recognized what she needed him for and his head began to run with ideas.

"Great! What do you want me to do?" Coop asked with clear excitement in his voiec. "Take you through his past loves, put you in his head, use the ring to show you where he likes to hang out when he's alone, or maybe even-"

"No! No, no, no, no!" Billie quickly stopped him. "No magical stuff. I have a feeling that would only mess things up worse. Besides, Paige told me about how her experience went with the whole 'head' thing, and, she didn't enjoy it?"

"Okay, so how can I help you?" he asked again, this time much more subdued and serious.

"Well, you're a cupid! That means you're an expert on love, right?" Billie started, to which he nodded with an "mm-hmm" to tell her she was right. "And the fact that you're with Phoebe gives you a serious leg up on all the other cupids, doesn't it?"

"You want some advice. I get it," Coop realized aloud, stopping her train of thought. "Well, Billie, you're in luck. Since I'm taking a walk right now, I guess I could use a partner."

"Yes!" Billie exclaimed joyfully, as Coop put an arm around her and they began to walk together. "Okay, so this basically happened when I came to the house a couple of weeks ago…"

"So things have calmed down a little, right?" Phoebe asked into her Bluetooth device while driving in her car. This was about an hour later.

"Well, it's nice to know you care so much now, sis," Paige stated somewhat harshly, as she now sat alone on the living room sofa.

"Wait, come again?" Phoebe asked, slightly confused at the tone Paige was giving her.

"Well, Piper told us why you didn't come earlier," Paige explained. "How you went off about not wanting to deal with demons instead of nesting up at your cozy little job giving advice."

"Okay, did Piper tell you I told her I'd come over as soon as I finished with work?" Phoebe asked in her own defense.

"So she might've missed a spot before she went to go pick up Wyatt and Chris," Paige commented. "Can you blame her?"

"And what about the Inspector? Is he still there?" Phoebe inquired.

"No, he's gone. The captain called with a case for him. Right now it's just me, your dad, Leo, Derrick, and Anya, waiting on Piper to come back and apparently, you to show up," Paige answered.

"Wait, Derrick? You mean your vampire buddy? He's there?" Phoebe quickly questioned.

"Yeah. Apparently he and Anya don't know each other, even though they can both red orb. It's weird," Paige described, slightly trailing off before she shook the cobwebs and focused herself again. "So, you're coming, right?"

"On my way and on a fast track to be there in just a few minutes," Phoebe replied.

"Great! We'll continue this when you get there. Love ya, sis. See ya!" Paige said on an ending note, then pressed end and closed her phone to finish this conversation. She sighed somewhat tiredly, as all this going on was becoming a real drag on her nerves, before getting up seconds later and walking off.

Meanwhile some bickering was going on in the Underworld.

"I'm sorry, Nomed, but I couldn't get the job done because your absolutely incompetent partner had to stop and remember some strange new girl that came along, and this excuse for a mark is as useless as the neo-kis were!" Axakentos threw his associates under the bus to Nomed.

"You know, maybe you should go find a mirror and look into it, because if you were really such a powerful imp master, you wouldn't need a mark!"

"And where do you get off calling Quesanne useless? I don't surround myself with useless!" Ramita quickly stood up for her female enforcer and companion. The two were utterly oblivious to the increasingly cringing reactions of Nomed and Trixoll, whose ears were being thoroughly grated by this argument.

"You stay out of this? You weren't even there! You were perfectly content to send your enforcer and not lift a finger to help!" Kentman shouted at Ramita.

"I know that jealousy is painful to let go of, Kentman, but you're gonna have to start soon. It's not my fault you couldn't keep me satisfied for very long," the curt harpy replied, hinting back to some form of a relationship between the two.

"Enough!" Trixoll screamed out as he finally got tired of this. He was successfully able to calm them down, much to the relief of a sighing Nomed. "All of you here, be quiet! I need to call my wife." As the silence continued to prevail, he took a cell phone out of his pocket and began to dial a number on it.

And inside a home somewhere, an African American woman with long wavy dark hair was standing over a stove in a bright and beautiful kitchen, smelling something that was brewing and smoking in the cooking pot. A contented sigh and a thick-lipped smile gracing her features later would tell that she found the aroma satisfactory.

"Now he is gonna go wild tonight," she said to no one in particular, beginning to walk out of her kitchen until suddenly the house phones started ringing. "That's gotta be him." She said as she exited through the narrow doorway and turned left into the living room, going over to get the off-white phone set up next to her widescreen TV set. "Hello?"

"Hey, Debbie, how's it going?" the man replied on the other side, which brought an unbridled smile to her face.

"Fine as usual, honey," she stated. This was partially a lie, as she didn't wanna spoil the surprise in the kitchen. "I actually talked to the AC repairman, and he said he's coming to get it fixed tomorrow. How's your work coming along, Trix? Sell any more homes today?"

"Actually," Trixoll stated on the other line, "I'm working on a pretty good deal right about now. The client I'm dealing with now, he's hoping to get in touch with an old roommate by the time I reach him tomorrow. But enough about that. I know it's gonna take me a few minutes to see you, baby, but I can barely wait that long."

"Oh, shoot! You're on your way home already?" Debbie blurted out, then caught herself a second late and covered her mouth.

"Yeah, why? Did you want me to stay out a little longer, or-"

"No, no, not at all! It's just that… well, you usually do stay out longer, so I'm a bit surprised," Debbie nervously cut him off and replied, adding in her mind that that was the understatement of the year.

"Don't worry, I'm driving safe," Trixoll replied, as if knowing exactly what she was about to ask. "I'll be home soon, okay?"

"Okay. I can't wait to see you. I love you, honey," Debbie honestly replied.

"Love you too. Bye," he finished, before pressing end on his cellphone and looking at his demonic cohorts. "Another time, gentlemen." He quickly exchanged a bright winning smile with Ramita, before shimmering out from the demons' midst.

A few minutes later, Phoebe had arrived at the Manor, and now she and Paige were talking together while walking to the sun room.

"So run me down how this vampire guy looks again?" Phoebe requested.

"Okay, let's see. He's no taller than Henry, though he seems a lot more muscular, he's got blonde hair, and he wears this freaky-looking trench coat," Paige explained.

"And the new girl, Anya?" Phoebe prodded on.

"Not sure, but she's got big black eyes, and you can't tell where or what she comes from just by looking at her, and it's not like she's told us anything. Cortez doesn't seem to like her, though," Paige went on.

"Why not?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, let's just say they have a bit of a history outside our great city," Paige answered as the two entered the sun room, where Leo was standing with Derrick and Anya. "Well, here we are."

Before she knew what was happening, Phoebe about froze as she looked at the two apparently friendly strangers in their midst. She saw that Derrick, on top of everything Paige said, had his gray eyes fixed on her like he had a bone to pick or something. But the person who most grabbed her attention was Anya. She took in the details of the strange woman, from the just-past-shoulder-length wavy black hair to the big black eyes which practically hid her sclera to the yellowish skin tone and the utterly mysterious face down to the navy blue sleeveless turtleneck and cargo pants. There was very little she could tell about Anya by looking at her, even in comparison to most people, and that caught her attention, though she didn't know what it meant.

"Phoebe… hey!" Anya tried her hand at a cheerful greeting, as she sensed that she was being studied to her own discomfort.

"Hi! I take it you're Anya, correct?" Phoebe asked as she snapped out of it. She watched Anya reply with a quick nod, then turned to Derrick. "And you would be Derrick?"

"Oh, ye of great faith. Nice to see you could join us," Derrick sarcastically remarked, much to Phoebe's dismay.

"Okay, what is it with everypme getting on my case just because I wanted to finish my work before coming here?" Phoebe complained, having finally had enough of it.

"Oh ho ho, no. I'm not using that as my excuse, trust me," Derrick retorted with a sardonic chuckle.

"Stop it, Derrick. I don't know what your problem is with Phoebe, but we've got bigger fish to worry about. That's why you're here, remember?" Leo quickly took up for his sister in law, to which she smiled at him gratefully.

"Thanks," she acknowledged from the bottom of her heart, before turning to Paige. "I thought you guys said Dad was here."

"Hold on, I didn't tell you he went with Piper to get the boys?" Paige asked. Phoebe shook her head. At that second, the front door of the manor began to click, then came open as Piper led her father and her two young sons inside.

"Hey, look who finally decided to show!" Piper called out. Clearly she'd seen Phoebe's car outside.

"Enough already! Over here!" Phoebe called back after rolling her eyes, letting them know where she was. Seconds later, Wyatt and Chris would come barreling into the room, and the first person they ran towards was their Aunt Phoebe.

"Hey! My favorite nephews! Come here!" she greeted them heartily, coming down and opening her arms to envelop them in a huge embrace. "How was school today?"

"It was good. I got to play Frisbees in PE, and Chris showed his class how to play duck, duck, goose!" Wyatt announced, with Chris grinning and nodding to back it up.

"Wow, sounds like you guys had fun!" Phoebe commented. Leo then cleared his throat and got his kids' attention.

"Daddy!" they both shouted as they ran to their father, who came down and got them in a big double hug as well.

"Hey, my little champs! Glad you had a good day today," he greeted them with a bright smile. The use of "little champs" specific would have Derrick chuckling. _(A/N: Edge is a wrestling champ, after all. He would catch that reference.)_

"Yep. Daddy, how come you're already back from Magic School?" Wyatt quickly asked, not missing a beat. Well, except for the two newcomers. On that, Chris had to constantly tap his brother's shoulder and then finally point to them. Immediately, Wyatt came alert and put up his defensive shield around not only himself and Chris, but also his father.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, relax. We're not going to attack you. I don't even know anything about who she is," Derrick said as he threw his hands up, then pointed to Anya, earning a death glare from the mysterious woman which he noticed a second later. "Well, I don't."

"Okay," Piper cut in as she chuckled. "Well, did you guys come up with a plan for Axakentos?"

"Yeah, we decided we're gonna try to remake the potion that Billie made to vanquish that other imp master from two years ago,"

"I figured as much, but how do we draw him out?" Piper asked.

"Hmm… I've got a bit of an idea about that…" Paige trailed off…

Only Nomed and Kentman, along with their buddy Zohar, would stay with Axakentos in their usual Underworld location, as Ramita and Quesanne had taken their leave, presumably back to their clan of harpies. The three stood for the next couple of hours, discussing brief plans and waiting to see what would come up until Axakentos suddenly looked up, as though he could feel something brewing above ground.

"I sense a victim. Another stray fool, walking into a dark alley and waiting to become a victim for my imps to feed on," the unnerving imp master stated in a quite possessed-sounding tone that somehow came across as completely natural for him.

"It could be a trap, though. If we know the Charmed Ones at all, it's not like they'll just sit back and allow your attacks on their family to go unpunished.

"Well, in that case, then shouldn't you call back those two harpies and make sure they cover me?" Axakentos suggested.

"I'd love to, Fabian, but considering you said they were worthless as 'marks', I don't think they'd be so quick to accept helping you again," Nomed informed him. "So I'm afraid you're on your own, my friend." This sent the imp master's frenzy-like gaze to another level and in the direction of the two partners.

"Fine. But if I end up in the wasteland, you'd better pray I don't meet you there," Axakentos threatened, then apparated out of the area. Nomed and Kentman remained, and after exchanging glances with each other, Nomed sighed and shook his head and put his ands into his pocket while Kentman raised his arms as if to shrug, both appearing quite nonchalant about things.

"You guys want me to take from the Klea tonic and go spy on him again?" Zohar offered.

"No. I get a feeling we could use that a little later," Nomed said as he turned to him.

A woman with long brown hair in a partial ponytail stood was walking through a dark alley, looking around and appearing as though she a little confused, perhaps even lost. She turned her way further into the alley, until finally she ended up at a dead end. She looked at it for awhile, until finally she shook her head and decided to turn and try to get as far away from here as possible. But then as soon as she turned around, she gasped, scared and paralyzed by those evil insane eyes.

"Well, you just about made my day," Axakentos proclaimed, as he raised his arm and it started going red, terrifying the young woman right back into the wall. Suddenly, however, he found a spear going right through his rib cage, and was instantly caught with an open mouth and little opportunity to use it. The spear receded a few seconds in, leaving a much bigger bloody hole than the last time one went through him. The woman, while scared as it came if you looked on her face, surprisingly didn't scream out for help. Axakentos, however, turned around and became angry upon seeing that it was Derrick who attacked him again, and this time he stood next to Anya.

"You… meddling… pests! How… ah… dare you!" Axakentos spoke, trying to fight through the pain at the same time as the hole in his body began to fill up with red energy.

"See, we just happened to be in the area, and we couldn't exactly just let you take that girl and do God knows what with her, now could we?" Anya remarked.

"Nope. Try another day, chump," Derrick told him, seemingly oblivious to the fact he was using his imps to reform his body.

"That's it!" Axakentos shouted after a few seconds, ready to kill these two for attacking him and wasting their opportunity to finish the job. "You fools now get to die too!" Axakentos shouted, while imps formed and then shot out of his hand at the two mysterious allies of good. They both proceeded to red orb their way out right as the imps were about to hit them, leaving Fabian's little monsters without a known target. He decided to call and absorb them back into his body, before turning around to his strange female victim. Surprisingly, now she was standing right there as if he wasn't a threat to her.

"Who are you, anyway?" he asked, before a bright blue light shone in from behind. He turned to see that it was Paige, having orbed in with Phoebe. "I knew this was too good to be true." Paige quickly snapped her fingers, and the brunette glamoured, or should we say unglamoured, into Piper. Axakentos turned around, and as soon as he saw her, his eyes became even wider. This time he was the one in fear. Piper quickly kicked him in the midsection, then forearmed him in the face, forcing him to stagger into the center of the area between them. The three Charmed Ones then took out vanquishing potions from their pockets and quickly threw them all at him simultaneously, sending both him and all his imps into a screaming frenzy

"**YOUUU… SSEEEETTTT… MEEEE… UUUUUUUP… AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"** he bellowed furiously, reminiscent of Barbas screaming this to the Avatars, as he went up in flames and eventually completely exploded. The haunting nuisance imp master was vanquished at last. The sisters briefly recoiled to protect their faces from the burst residue, then put their arms down and looked at each other when the area became quiet.

"Finally. It feels good to deal with these things outside our house," Piper decided, as Paige breathed a sigh of relief and Phoebe let out a whew.

The sisters would quickly head back to the Manor and tell Derrick and Anya to both meet them at P³ later that night, then briefly talk with Leo and Victor, before Phoebe and Paige each decided to get back to their husbands, Phoebe agreeing to drive her father to his apartment along the way. Coop had already long finished talking to Billie about Keith, which he'd told Phoebe about, as well as the feeling of satisfaction he had that Billie was finally starting to come back to her old self.

Right now, Leo, Coop, and Henry were seated in front of the bar counter at P³, talking about their respective jobs (two magical, one paying) until the real brown-haired woman Piper had been glamoured into at the dark alley came over.

"Well, what can I get you boys?" the woman asked them.

"Cold Coors Light," Henry requested.

"Same here, Caroline," Leo seconded the order, as Coop nodded to say he wanted the same as well.

"Okay. Coming right up," Caroline announced, before turning and walking off briefly. A few seconds later, she would come with three bottles of Coors Light beer for the boys.

"Here you go."

"Thanks," Coop acknowledged verbally as the guys tipped their heads to her. She smiled at the boys' antics, before picking up a clean paper tower starting to wipe the desk. Caroline was an agency intern who'd been the assistant and barkeep here at P³ since Piper hired her five months ago. In that time, she'd become pretty close with the Halliwell sisters and their husbands; she came to regard them as good friends and vice versa. This was probably where Paige had gotten the idea to glamour Piper into her in the setup against Axakentos.

Henry would be the first to take the bottle opener in front of him, open up his bottle, and start drinking from, until footsteps approached the trio, and they found Derrick and Anya, both dressed more casually like them now, standing in front of them.

"So I hear you and your wives wanted to see us," Derrick stated, getting straight to the point.

"Yes, and as a matter of fact," Leo started, as he and the guys stood up, "we'll take you to 'em right now. Come on, let's go." They would lead them in the direction of the three sisters, who were seated next to each other and dressed beautifully as they always were when it came time to come here.

"You know, that was a brilliant idea, glamouring me into Caroline in order to lure him in like that," Piper complimented her sister.

"Oh, come on, it was nothing," Paige said with a smile, modestly declining the praise,.. "I just remembered how the other imp master liked to go after innocents in dark alleys, and I figured Axakentos was no different, just a bit more powerful."

"I just hope South Bay Social Services'll take you back," Phoebe commented off the subject. "Come to think of it, why haven't they called back yet? It's been over a week."

"I don't know. I thought they would've gotten back to me by now," Paige stated. "It's not like Mr. Cowan to keep people waiting."

"No, but if I got what you told us about that Tex guy correct, it sure sounds like him," Piper noted.

"Well, guys, they're here," Leo suddenly said. The sisters looked and saw that their husbands were here with their new friends, to which they stood up and found themselves approached and kissed with short but loving pecks by their respective men.

"Thank you," Piper kindly said, as the six turned to the newcomers. "Now, as for you two, we were talking today, and we came to a decision."

"Which is that since you guys seem so eager to help us out, and you decided to give us a heads up, we're gonna give you that chance," Leo continued.

"On one condition;" Paige cautioned, "we are gonna have to learn a lot more about you guys and why you're here over time."

"We already covered that same bridge with each other, so don't worry," Anya assured them.

"Including the part about why you don't like my wife," Coop pointed out, looking straight at Derrick when he said that.

"Yeah, well let's start with the fact that I'm not exactly a big fan of yours either," Derrick countered.

"Hey!" Phoebe quickly cut them off. "This is not gonna be the

Unbeknownst to any of them, Billie had entered the club and was looking around, seemingly for someone or something. She soon would notice the others all talking at the usual lounge area, but before she could decide what to do from there, she found her shoulder being tapped by someone. She turned around, and there was…

"Keith!"

"Hey. I was just, um… at the dance floor. Couldn't find a good partner, especially one that wasn't taken," Keith stated lightly.

"Well, if you were waiting on me, I'm here now. So, wanna dance?" Billie offered, unable to hide her nervousness.

"Actually, I wanna talk," Keith said out of nowhere, to which Billie was taken back.

"Talk about what?" she asked in a somewhat defensive tone.

"Hmm… just something I saw, in the car, two weeks ago," Keith explained. Billie looked like her hand had been caught in the cookie jar. And none of them, or anyone in the club at all, seemed to notice the set of seemingly disembodied eyes that just disappeared from the wall…

* * *

NOTE: Uh oh… what could this be about… did he see something that maybe he shouldn't have seen? Fallout comes next time, and you know, folks, it wouldn't hurt to tell me what you think. Oh, yeah, and if you look back at the last chapter, Jesse and Reivers are no longer part of episode 3 credits, because obviously I couldn't find the spot to throw in Tex and Cowan. That'll be a priority next time too.

-Pac.


End file.
